MESOP : KURDS IN TURKEY SHOULD VOTE AKP ? / Just in case: No ‘peace process’ without a strong Presidential Erdogan Regiment

“However, the biggest concern, as Omar articulated, is if Erdogan’s AKP loses the upcoming parliamentary elections. This possibility, however unlikely, is worth considering.”

Op-Ed: Kurds Should Vote for Erdogan

By Osamah Golpy 25/7/2014 – RUDAW – One resident, Harem Omar, 27, anxiously told me, “Our only hope is Turkey,” in reference to Turkey’s growing ties with Iraqi Kurdistan. His choice for the upcoming presidential election is the current Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Omar believes the Kurdish candidate — 41-year-old Selahattin Demirtas — doesn’t stand much of a chance and appreciates Erdogan’s efforts to address Kurdish rights issues in Turkey during his 10-year premiership.

Erdogan’s main challenger is Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the 70-year-old former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Now I am not naïve: I’m not suggesting that Erdogan is all good or is the savior. In fact, I had the chance to participate in two protests against the demolition of Gezi Park last year, which became rallying cries for human rights and against police crackdowns and corruption. My motives were to express solidarity with the demonstrators and to reject police brutality and media censorship.

While the protests were deeply critical of Erdogan, I would still like to have the prospects for further reforms in the years ahead under his leadership. Frankly there isn’t a lot of hope for the alternatives, and Kurds certainly prefer a politician whom they know over someone who’s coming out of nowhere.

Thanks to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), Kurds can not only openly say the words “Kurd” and “Kurdistan” — terms which, along with the Kurdish alphabet, were long forbidden in Turkey — but they also have their own presidential candidate in the country’s first-ever public presidential election. The jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence on terrorism charges, is holding peace talks with the Turkish government after the Turkish Parliament passed legal amendments allowing the process to go forward. Simply acknowledging Ocalan would have been unheard of in the past. Turkey has the 16th largest economy in the world and aims to become one of the top 10 largest economies by 2023. To reach that goal it needs energy — and lots of it. Turkey signed a 50 year-energy agreement with the Kurdistan Region that serves the interest of both parties. The Kurdistan Region has enjoyed Turkish support in exporting oil without Baghdad’s approval, despite threats by Iraq’s Oil Ministry. While the Kurdistan Region desperately needs Turkey, Turkish authorities also need Kurdistan to move forward with the 2023 goals set by Erdogan’s AKP. This includes mediating between Kurdish in Turkey and the Turkish government.

This is perhaps the first time that Kurds in one area of Greater Kurdistan are allying with a nation without hurting Kurds in another country. (In this case, improved relations between Turkey and Iraq’s Kurdistan Region don’t hurt the Kurds in Turkey.) In the past, Kurds for example helped Iran battle Iraq, but unfortunately they fought against their fellow Kurds who were demanding greater rights for the Kurds in eastern Kurdistan (Iran.) Huseyin Celik, a spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AKP, has told Rudaw that Kurds in Iraq have the right to decide the future of their land. Remarks like this further motivate the Kurds to back Turkey: specifically, Erdogan’s party. However, the biggest concern, as Omar articulated, is if Erdogan’s AKP loses the upcoming parliamentary elections. This possibility, however unlikely, is worth considering. To hedge their bets, Iraqi Kurds should not focus entirely on Turkey. And while it’s likely that AKP will win the most votes, boosting ties with other parties should be considered, just in case. http://rudaw.net/english/opinion/25072014