ATIK | Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe | AHM-ATIK News Center
ATİK | 15 – 09 – 2009 | The ruling forces of Republic of Turkey (RT) were heavily disappointed after the local election of March 29, 2009 in Kurdistan (Turkey). The Kurdish nation had rallied behind DTP (Turkish acronyms for Democratic Soceity Party), which came out of the elections as even a stronger party. Threatened by the election results, the ruling forces began new annihilation plans against the Kurdish national movement. They presented their new plans under names such as ‘solution’, ‘peace’, and ‘overture’, which are essentially nothing but a strategy to liquidate the national movement and re-establish their weakened reign.
The promises of RT’s ruling forces about achieving ‘historical opportunity, peace and brotherhood’, which were voiced by the AKP administration, are mainly aimed at eclipsing and thwarting the Kurdish nation’s ever growing just and legitimate struggle.
With the initiative given to the Minister of Interior, Besir Atalay, involuntary support of the National Security Council, and presented as the path to solution, undertakings that take place about so-called consultations with all layers of the society, is in realty a continuation of the old mentality. They attempt to conceal the government’s suppression, massacre, and torture policies against the worker’s class and toiling peoples of various ethnic backgrounds of Turkey, but especially against those of Kurdish nation. It is this same mentality that denies the fact that it is the government policies of Republic of Turkey that is the perpetrator and responsible of the war that goes on for 30 years and of the 50.000 loss of human lives.
It must be seen that what is attempted under the name of “overture” is nothing but an attempt to gain popular support for their near-future policies of denial and destruction. This undertaking still does not recognize the liberated decree of the Kurdish nation. Instead it only repackages the ruling fascist Kemalist state ideology and presents it as a solution, which in turn is nothing but the reinterpretation of the same fascist ideology with new formulations of posing more problems for the Kurdish nation.
We support the Kurdish nation’s just and legitimate struggle!
We strongly denounce Besir Atalay and certain establishments, which present themselves as civil and demokratik society institutions, who insist on not recognizing the Kurdish nation’s right to determin its own destiny and the fact that it is the Kurdish nation and its dynamics who should be making decisions on their current situation and future. These establishments and Besir Atalay still persist on the denial of the collective rights of the Kurdish nation and present the matter as a mere problem of individual liberties. This is a racist approach. It perpetuates the conflict and is the continuation of the currently ruling facsist ideology.
Presented under the name of solution, policies of denial, assimiliation, and rejection of collective rights of the Kurdish nation compose the foundation of the approach towards the Kurdish national question. Statements such as individual liberties, living one’s identity on an individual base and in democratic conditions is esentially the denial of the Kurdish identity as a nation.
There are a few main reasons in the background of these new undertakings. The Kurdish national question strongly asserts itself both as a internal (domestic) problem of Turkey and with the new regional equations as a regional and external problem. Moreover, as a result of of the new orientations of imperialism in the region, Turkey’s ruling forces are forced put the problem into form that can be managed within the framework of these new imperialist orientations.
The undertaking of so-called “overture” by the ruling forces of Turkey mainly aim to liquidate the armed struggle of Kurdish national movement. However, because the approach of the undertaking still refuses to recognize the political and armed decree, which the Kurdish nation brought about after long struggles, clearly indicates that the old policy of denial and destruction towards the Kurdish national question is continued.
The only real solution is a referendum, where the Kurdish nation without any presure can present its own free decree. This is the Kurdish nation’s right to determine its own destiny. The Kurdish nation can use this right according to any providence that it sees fit. This approach, at the same time, rejects any oppression and precondition on the use of this fundamental right.
As ATIK, we advocate a situation in which our peoples, of Turkish and Kurdish nations and of minorities from various ethnicities, can freely live according to equal rights. We recognize demands such as recognition of the Kurdish identity, education in mother tongue, development of the Kurdish culture, and the release of political prisioners as democratic demands and fully support them. We declare that these are basic democratic rights of the Kurdish rights and demands for these rights are just and legitimate. We will continue our struggle for these rights.
Long live the Kurdish nation’s right to determine its own destiny!
Down with chauvenism! Long live the voluntary unity and brotherhood of peoples!
