The Republic of Turkey, which was founded on the principle of "Turkism" on October 29, 1923, after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, entered its centenary. The republican regime, which strengthened the construction process through the motto of "common homeland and unity", gave nothing but policies of denial, destruction and assimilation to the Kurds and all other identities after its establishment.

 

Kurds, who continued their demand for status against the Republic's policies of denial and destruction, responded with many resistances throughout the century. This situation continued until the emergence of the PKK, which was described as the "29th Kurdish Revolt". While the process evolved to a different dimension with the PKK's armed struggle, Abdullah Öcalan pointed to the construction of a "Democratic Republic" for a permanent solution.

 

Historian-writer Erdoğan Aydın evaluated the construction process of the republic, which has entered its centenary, the position of the Kurds and the Democratic Republic thesis developed by Abdullah Öcalan regarding the solution of the Kurdish issue.

 

Erdoğan Aydın

 

CONSTRUCTION PROCESS OF THE REPUBLIC

 

Evaluating the construction process of the republic established after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Aydın said: "The Republic project began to take shape with the national struggle. At the beginning of the national struggle, especially the Erzurum Congress was a recovery and the first step that could be realized with the ownership of the Kurdish leaders. While this process was going to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, it was also tried to be built with an increasingly clear consensus on how the future would be shaped. There was an element clearly stated in the final decisions of both the Erzurum Congress and the Sivas Congress. The struggle was not just about Turkishness, that the concept of Turkishness was not used at all, that a definition was made through the Muslim motherland, and that this Muslim motherland consisted of more than one element."

 

COMMITMENT TO THE COMMON HOMELAND

 

Stating that the national struggle process initiated in terms of the commitments it contains can be interpreted as a democratic step, Aydın said: "Other peoples, especially the Kurds, who played a role in this process, also supported the process through these commitments. In a Turkish geography consisting of multiple identities, the future began with a commitment that different identities will live together equally. A similar commitment was made in the Amasya protocols between the Istanbul government and the Ankara government and in the document that was declared in the Istanbul parliament and described the homeland called the National Pact. Turkey was described as the lands where Turks and Kurds live. The right of these two equally righteous elements to determine their future in the lands where Turks and Kurds live together was mentioned. When we look at it from this perspective, the national struggle actually had a structure that had democratic potential and was committed to pluralism, even before it transitioned into a republic form." 

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE 1921 CONSTITUTION

 

Emphasizing that the 1921 Constitution created in this process was of great importance in this sense, Aydın reminded that the 1921 Constitution included provisions accepting the autonomy of the Kurds. Aydın said: “The 1921 Constitution, which was made in the Ankara Parliament in 1921 and consisted of 24 articles, made very important commitments along the line we have just mentioned. One of these was the article 'sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation'. The second is what is hidden in this word; It was a promise of a future that would be determined by the people, not the sultan. This essentially meant a republic. In other words, the statement that sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation describes a republic that is irreconcilable with a sultanate or even a constitutional monarchy. Another important element of this constitution that concerns us is that in its second article, the people exercise national sovereignty directly and without intermediaries. In other words, we are talking about a constitutional structure that talks about direct government and direct democracy. Another important issue is that the 1921 Constitution guaranteed autonomy and that the provinces would be governed by the mayors they elected, and these mayors, together with the people's assemblies, would be responsible for education, agriculture, local security, etc. within the borders of that province. It will directly decide on a number of areas covering its policies."

 

'DENIATION STARTED WITH LAUSANNE'

 

Stating that the 1921 Constitution gradually lost its function with the start of the Lausanne negotiations, Aydın stated that the Treaty of Lausanne constituted a turning point for the Kurds. Stating that the negotiations held in Lausanne were carried out on the basis of ignoring the Kurds, who are seen as the founding element of the country, Aydın said, “From the selection of the delegation sent to the Lausanne Conference to the minorities commission, where the most intense discussions took place, a very intense negotiation was made with the British, in which the word minority was fixed to refer only to non-Muslims. During 17 meetings, the Turkish representative of the minorities commission, Rıza Nur, persistently prevented Kurds, Alevis and Muslim minorities from taking the minutes there. And ultimately, since the main problem of the British at that time was whether Turkey would proceed on the capitalist path or whether it would be a friend of the Soviet Union, Turkey agreed with the British and gave the answer to this question by convening the Izmir economic congress and giving the message "I will stay on the capitalist path, you do not need to be afraid of me." solves the problem for itself. Therefore, in Lausanne, they established the future not through Kurds and Turks, but through Turks and those whom Turks would assimilate,” he said.

 

THE START OF THE DENIAL OF ALL IDENTITIES

 

Reminding that the 1921 Constitution was deactivated with the republic declared after the Treaty of Lausanne and the 1924 Constitution, which was based on the nation state, was adopted, Aydın said: " A process leading to the denial of all identities other than Turkishness began with this constitution. In the first year after the declaration of the republic, we will see that the features specific to the republic gradually decrease. In other words, instead of the decentralized, democratic style of government determined by the voters in the 1921 Constitution, it will begin to be based on determination from above. This means that the republic and democracy lose another fundamental opportunity. In Article 66 of the 1924 Constitution, all living people are declared Turks; therefore, it is no longer possible for it to live with an identity other than Turkishness. Decentralization has been directly abolished and the promise of autonomy has been abolished. All powers are literally transferred to the president, and the people to be elected are determined from above; therefore, unfortunately, it is difficult for the average person in Turkey to face this reality, but starting from the days when the republic was declared, Turkey entered a line where the opportunities for democratization gradually narrowed and disappeared.”

 

'REBELLION HAS BEEN IMPOSED ON THE KURDS'

 

Stating that along with the process of denying identities other than Turkishness, assimilation and destruction policies towards the Kurds were put into effect, and on the other hand, a process was initiated in which the Kurds were actually forced to rebel, and noted that the resistance of Sheikh Said started on this basis, Aydın said: “While until 1924, it was a process in which the existence of the Kurds was honored and recognized and the future was continued by making a commitment to the Kurds, after 1924, a process was entered that denied the Kurds. The rebellion named after Sheikh Said also started with an objection against such a state of shock; moreover, it is debatable whether there is actually a rebellion because Sheikh Said was literally forced to rebel. His village was raided and the people in his village were asked to surrender on the grounds that they were criminals, and this was insistently imposed. In other words, the Kurds, who previously thought that they would establish a state and life for the future with the Turks, suddenly encountered the fact that they were denied and that being a Kurd was prohibited. This is actually a clear indication that Turkey is not planning to move towards democracy or a republic, contrary to popular belief, but on the contrary, it is planning a move towards standardisation." 

 

29TH REBELLION: PKK

 

Focusing on the rebellions developed by the Kurds against the denial policies of the republic, Aydin drew attention to the "29th rebellion" initiated by the PKK, which was founded under the leadership of Abdullah Öcalan. Reminding that the state initiated a "solution process" by opening dialogue paths with the PKK and Abdullah Öcalan between 2013 and 2015 for the first time in the solution of the Kurdish issue, after all these rebellions and conflicts during the Republican regime, Aydın said: "Today, no one is bringing Turkey closer to mediation on the Palestine issue; however, if we remember the days of the solution process, the same parties and people were in power. They were respected in all international institutions. They ranked 17th among the top 20 largest economies. Today, the opposite situation exists. All of these are directly related to the policy towards the Kurdish issue."

 

SOLUTION: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

 

Underlining that a permanent solution to the Kurdish issue and a way out of all issues is possible with the "Democratic Republic" project developed by Abdullah Öcalan, Aydın said: "A hundred years have passed and we still have not been democratized. I wonder why the answer to why we still cannot democratize lies in this organization itself, and we must face it. For this reason, I believe that the initiative made by the Kurdish movement today through the concepts of common homeland and democratic republic is actually an attempt to pave the way for a Turkish policy that is shooting itself in the foot and to save Turkey from the current deadlock in economic, political and international relations. It may actually be possible to solve all of Turkey's problems with a democratic republic. "The democratic republic is actually the expression of the transition to a true republic in the second century of the republic."

 

MA / İbrahim Irmak