Thursday’s announcement of “democratic autonomy” in Southeast Anatolia has sparked new debate
Thursday’s announcement of “democratic autonomy” in Southeast Anatolia has sparked new debate, but the system has already been tested in parts of Diyarbakır for a number of years, a leading pro-Kurdish figure has said.
The system has been in use for four years, said Cemal Coşkun, the speaker of the Democratic Society Congress, or DTK, an umbrella organization of pro-Kurdish figures and groups.
Autonomous regions “will have a flag, but [we] are not trying to set up a separate country,” Coşkun said. “‘Kurdistan’ is the geographical name of the region, not a country. We do not have a problem with the Turkish flag or the borders. We just want to handle our own issues internally.”
The DTK declared democratic autonomy during an extraordinary congress with 850 delegates in Diyarbakır on Thursday, inviting Kurds to introduce themselves as democratically autonomous Kurdistan citizens. The group will convene at the end of the month to announce its road map for 15 provinces in the country’s southeastern region.
The Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday launched an investigation into the Kurdish proclamation of autonomy. The prosecutor’s office in Diyarbakır, the biggest city in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast, said it was examining the declaration and would file a case if it determined any criminal element.
Fifty village communes, 21 neighborhood assemblies, four county assemblies and a provincial council have been operating in the region for four years, Coşkun told the Hürriyet Daily News, adding that the organizations set up by Kurds also included cultural branches, as well as commissions dealing with justice, economics, women and youth.
“Democratic autonomy is a process that starts in villages and grows up to the provincial level,” Coşkun said. “Those who disobey the rules are warned and punished by the regional assembly. For example, fights between individuals in neighborhoods will be solved through the assembly. Security forces will interfere with events such as drug use, prostitution, theft and violence against women. If the incidents continue, the individuals will be driven out of the community.”
Coşkun emphasized that the system only deals with small local issues. “We are not creating a separate judiciary system. If someone commits murder, the government has to deal with it. We will not have prisons,” he said. “But if two families get into an argument, the neighborhood commissions will intervene to prevent the fight from growing.”
Self-defense force
The regional assembly will have the authority to pass laws in the areas of traffic, health and education, said Coşkun, who added that the system will also include self-protection, something he described as “forces of the organized people.”
“It won’t be like police forces in the classic sense. And it’s not an urgent issue at this point,” he said.
The regional assembly is the largest branch of the system and is made up of 450 chosen delegates from village communities, neighborhood assemblies, faith groups, workers, NGO representatives, local authorities, women and youth. The regional assembly will also include a conviction commission, disciplinary commission, faith groups and commissions for women, youth, arts, culture and economy. An executive council made up of 34 members will convene once a week while the general assembly convenes once a month.
There are many models for such a system, Coşkun said, emphasizing that “two nations can live under the roof of one state.” He added that the DTK’s system was largely shaped by the democratic autonomy idea brought up after 1999 by Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.
July 15, 2011
SOURCE: Hürriyet Daily News
