BDP’S GULTAN KISANAK ACCUSES ASSAD FOR USING CHEMICAL WEAPONS / Peace Day speaker criticises chemical attack
By Nurhak Yilmaz for SES Türkiye in Diyarbakir 04/09/13 – BDP co-chairwoman Gultan Kisanak addressed a crowd of thousands at a rally in Diyarbakir on September 1st to denounce the August 21st chemical weapons attack in Damascus that killed more than 1,000 civilians, but warned that the Turkish government should not intervene in Syria.
“If Turkey is going to play a role, it should do so for a political solution, peace, and the brotherhood of peoples,” she said. The opposition in Syria blamed Assad’s forces for the chemical attack, but the government has denied responsibility. Kisanak’s address was one of several that emphasised the growing unity of Kurds in the region. Speakers were from the BDP and the Democratic Society Congress, all of them women. In a first, the line-up also featured representatives of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the dominant Kurdish group in Syria, which is largely concentrated along parts of Turkey’s southern flank. Like the BDP, the PYD backs a political solution to the Kurdish issue based on “democratic autonomy.” It also expresses admiration for imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Kurdish-held zones in Syria have faced armed attacks in recent months from al-Qaeda linked jihadist groups including Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Kurds in Turkey have responded with solidarity demonstrations as well as campaigns to send food and medical relief to embattled areas across the border. “The current period underscores the interconnectedness… The fact that the actors on the Kurdish issue in Turkey and Syria are the same leads them to embrace each other,” Faruk Korkmaz, a member of the steering committee of the Diyarbakir Chamber of Commerce, told SES Türkiye. Some speakers addressed the on-going peace process between the PKK and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. Cemil Bayik, co-chairman of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), had warned that the PKK would halt their withdrawal to northern Iraq if the government failed to implement reforms prior to September 1st.
AKP has said it is working on a “democratisation packet,” though it has not announced details. Kisanak added that the AKP’s failure to announce its reform packet showed a “lack of seriousness.”
“The government hasn’t taken a serious step. This process is one that will bring freedom to yourselves as well as the peoples of the Middle East,” she said, referring to the government. “We don’t want to return to clashes. But we want a just peace. That will happen when our people are given their rights.”Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said in a recent statement that the AKP plans to announce its reforms before autumn. “The packet is not only about the solution process. We think of it as a rich packet that will include many democratisation steps of relevance for all of our citizens,” Atalay said. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the PKK of withdrawing too slowly and exaggerating the number of guerrillas who have left the country. In an article published in the pro-KCK Azadiya Welat on September 1st, Bayik appeared to extend his deadline while reiterating his threat to break the ceasefire. “If the AKP government doesn’t show a will for a solution in the near term, the Kurdish side will not have received a response to its unilateral steps and determination. This will mean the end of the eight-month ceasefire period,” Bayik wrote.
Speaking to SES Türkiye, writer Lal Lales said the people of Turkey should more forcefully articulate calls for peace.
“In my view, as long as the people of Turkey in Izmir, Samsun, Ankara, and Eskisehir don’t pour into the streets to call for peace, as long as there is no discourse of a fair peace on the side of the powerful, victims’ discourse of peace based on daily developments will remain a mere request,” she said.
For Lales, the key is to unite the Gezi Park demonstrators with their counterparts in the southeast. “The peace we long for will only be possible when these segments unify their sensitivity,” she said. “The idea of peace must come from all peoples in Turkey.” Correspondent Ethem Cagir in Diyarbikar contributed to this report. What should Turkey do to help bring about a peaceful end to the Syrian crisis? Share your thoughts in the comments area below.