MESOP : The semi-autonomous commune Kurdistan needs an own flag to start into the 21th century

Kurdish BDP official outlines vision for Turkish Kurdistan region   

May 1, 2014 al-monitor | milliyet.com.tr  ANKARA,— The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) deputy co-chairman in charge of local administrations, Demir Celik, has outlined the roadmap to Kurdish autonomy. Here is how he describes the milestones in an intriguing interview with Taraf’s Tugba Tekerek, published by Turkish milliyet newspaper:

“A free, autonomous Kurdistan should be bound to Ankara in terms of finance and diplomacy (or foreign policy). Yet, it should be able to make its own economic decisions,” Celik said. “‘Self-defense’ is a major aspect of autonomy. Autonomous Kurdistan will have its own ‘police’ and ‘municipal police.’ We are not there yet, but our people are on watch against [the construction of] fortified military posts. And this is, no doubt, self-defense.” “We will open Kurdish-language nurseries and kindergartens. Children are not supposed to learn Turkish before they can speak Kurdish. The Turkish language will be taught in secondary school, along with Kurdish.” “Autonomous Kurdistan will have its own flag. Turkey has many autonomous institutions with their own symbols and flags, which they display alongside the Turkish national flag. Turkey is not breaking up. It’s meaningless to be fearful of us. The Turkish flag belongs to us all. If Turkey is to be divided into 25 regions, let those regions hoist their own flags alongside the Turkish flag. We’ll be only proud to do that. But to insist on things like ‘Not your flag, but only mine’ amounts to denying our existence. It is unacceptable.”

“The autonomous region should provide not only Kurdish-language education, but also health services.”

“A regional parliament is not part of the discussions [with Ankara]. Yet, we have already set up the congress that would function as a regional parliament (the Democratic Society Congress).” “The question of the regional administration’s capital: … We have deferred it to the negotiation stage as well.” “We are setting up self-administration organs through which the people will govern themselves, that is, village and street communes, neighborhood assemblies and town assemblies. There are already beekeeping communes in eight villages in Yuksekova, which have set up cooperatives embracing all villagers.”“We will apply to establish a university. We have already bought the plot and formed the board of trustees. If Fethullah Gulen’s Selahaddin Eyyubi University gets a permission, we will seek one, too. The university will offer courses in all the languages of Kurdistan (Kurdish Arabic, Persian, Azeri, etc.).”

Even though only a “Kurdistan Autonomous Region” is being described above, one has to take up the issue from a wider “regions” perspective that encompasses the whole of Turkey.  According to Celik, Turkey has 26 watery regions, which could become the centers of as many autonomous administrations. He points to Syria’s [mainly Kurdish] Rojava region as an example. Yet, he mentions Switzerland as the ideal model. Switzerland, however, is a confederation built on much looser bonds compared with a federation. According to Celik, the territory of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region would be determined through referendums in the related provinces in southeast Turkey. Those who refuse to join would be bound directly to the central democratic republic.