The bombing of a bus in Istanbul and the deaths of four soldiers and a civilian has dramatically underlined the need for positive ideas on all sides on how to resolve the long-running problem of Turkey’s troubled relationship with its Kurdish population.
The immediate danger is that the ruling AKP, urged on by nationalists and the military, will revert to extreme measures in the east and south east of the country. The government is coming under pressure to find a military solution to a political problem – which could well involve incursions into northern Iraq where the Kurds have a number of training bases. That would lead to an escalation of violence and take Turkey back to October 2008 when 17 soldiers were killed in one month.
Faced with an apparently intractable problem, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at first sought to accommodate some of the aspirations of the Kurdish people. Kurdish language programmes began to appear on radio and television and the government appeared to accept the sweeping electoral victory of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in March last year.
But when Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned Kurdish leader, published his roadmap to peace – which included the establishment of a Kurdish state – it was a step too far for hardline Turkish nationalists and Mr Ocalan was promptly transferred to a new, and less hospitable, jail. The Kurds saw this as a breach of faith, the PKK resumed hostilities and, in December, Turkey’s constitutional court banned the DTP.
At the funeral for victims of the bus bomb some bereaved families refused to accept the condolences of government mourners and government ministers who attended were booed. Many people think it is now time for the government to begin a more constructive dialogue with the Kurds.
