Pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Congress Threatens to Boycott June 12 Elections

The patience and tolerance of Kurds in Turkey have run out, says the deputy chairwoman of the Democratic Society Congress.

A potential boycott of the June 12 general election was on the agenda of a major pro-Kurdish umbrella organization when it met Thursday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, according to the pro-Kurdish Fırat News Agency.

“Kurds have issued their verdict; the solution will come about independently of the AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party]. The Kurds’ patience and tolerance have run out,” Aysel Tuğluk, the deputy chairwoman of the Democratic Society Congress, or DTK, said at the meeting, the Anatolia news agency reported.

“Our people are sufficiently organized to establish their own democracy and to live in that system, if things do not work out with the state. This lack of status [for the Kurds] cannot stand,” she said.

The meeting organized by the DTK, an umbrella organization of pro-Kurdish figures and groups, drew 800 delegates to Diyarbakır to evaluate the group’s stance in regards to recent developments, including the possibility of an election boycott, according to Fırat. The news agency is sympathetic to the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, and often carries announcements from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Topics discussed at the meeting included the recent raids on “democratic solution tents” set up by the DTK, the short-lived decision by the Supreme Election Board, or YSK, to veto some independent candidates supported by the BDP and security forces’ crackdowns on protesters.

Commenting on the possibility of a DTK boycott, a Diyarbakır deputy candidate from the AKP said the BDP should “definitely be” in the Parliament and that a decision to boycott the election would not be proper. “There is no alternative for solution other than politics. If they do not enter the Parliament, non-political alternatives should be discussed, yet that won’t bring a solution to the issue,” Galip Ensarioğlu, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Thursday.

“A calamity is just around the corner. I am not pessimistic. I only possess the sensibility that emanates from intuition and foresight,” Tuğluk, who is also an independent candidate from the eastern province of Van, said at the meeting.

“President Abdullah Gül had said that good things were about to happen. So much time has passed by, and to no avail. Once again we are at a crossroads,” she said. “I dare not say it but must voice my feeling that bad things are about to happen. Everyone concerned about the Kurdish issue would know that we are moving toward ground zero, and fast.”

Urging the Turkish people to understand the Kurds correctly, Tuğluk said, further claiming that Kurdish children were being slaughtered on harsh commands from the state. She said some people were scratching bleeding wounds at a time when dialogue was evolving into negotiations and when peace was very near at hand, in reference to the contacts between state officials and Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed PKK. The group has been designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

“There is no telling” whether things will happen “like in Egypt or Syria,” Tuğluk said, but insisted that “a status [for the Kurds] will be won, and it will be defended at all costs,” the Anatolia news agency reported.

“We are in limbo, and responsibility belongs to the state and the prime minister. If we end up in heaven, we will live there together, and if we end up in hell, then we will burn together,” she said, adding that she had wished to speak about hopeful portents about peace, but had been forced by events to speak of anxiety, strife and death.

According to the Fırat news agency, an estimated 1,000 people have been taken into custody and two civilians have died in clashes with police, while hundreds were injured, since the YSK issued its directive April 18 to veto independent BDP candidates. The board reversed the decision three days later, on April 21.

“A ridiculous decision is made to obstruct democratic representation. The militaristic institution called the Turkish Army launches operations against the dormant guerilla force with overwhelming force and technical capability, and takes seven lives in Dersim. You all know that when the pain and anger of this city keeps mounting, it knows no boundaries,” Tuğluk said in Diyarbakır, accusing the AKP of taking a hostile and statist stance against the Kurdish issue and claiming the YSK is an ideological institution

“I would like to remind the prime minister of one truth before your presence and the media: Denial breeds revolt, Mr. Prime Minister,” she said.

“The time is now for building the democratic autonomy solution with [our] own will and organization,” Tuğluk added, praising the solution offered by imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan as being responsible, forward-looking, confidence-inspiring and unselfish.

May 5, 2011

SOURCE: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS