British and Turkish taxpayers' money

Published in Turkish Daily News, 28 October

Nowadays, the words “tax payers’ money” seem to be used in every third sentence in the British media, right after the words “credit crunch”. The over use of the word signals an important element of British politics for those of us who are denizens of Her Majesty’s country.

There is not a single sacred cow in the UK that cannot be challenged by British citizens. Whether it is the royal family or the government, the houses of Parliament, the armed forces, the British public and the media regularly question how their money is spent and how their country is led. The underlying notion is that the state is there to serve its people and it is accountable to them for its performance.

British armed forces have been publicly challenged all throughout their Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns on everything from how many troops were deployed to where and to what kind of boots, uniforms and gadgets were provided to soldiers. Similarly, the royal family and politicians have been continually and decisively challenged on their spending of public funds. This challenge is beyond simply being freedom of expression. It is a binding and quite powerful pressure on the state to behave properly.

Although this is an honourable notion, it can also open the door for absurdity. For example, since the start of the collapse of Northern Rock bank and the growing damage the credit crunch is causing to British banking, the British media has played the populist card of accusing the Labour government with wasting tax payers' money to cover up the greed and luxurious gains of city bankers. The news clips included huge amounts of cash that the government was getting ready to spend alongside lucrative bonuses received by bankers and comments of random people on the street who are being led to react to the government’s efforts. Of course, the same media would crucify the weakening Brown government if they did not take this massive economic crisis seriously.

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Public Accountability in Turkey

Public accountability is in its foetus stage in Turkey. Our beloved Prime Minister is renowned for filing libel charges against anyone who says not so lovely things about him. He is also a master of insults, heavy accusations and condemnation to anyone who exhorts him to act as a Prime Minister.

For example, he has just condemned business patrons and journalists who are urging Turkey to take serious economic measures as people who are trying to gain benefits from a crisis, rather than acting like the leader of a mature democracy and showing us his plans to protect our country from disaster. This he did alongside his under-the-belt threats to the Dogan media group, which has stepped on his nerves by raising some questions about corruption in AK Party circles.

However, things in Turkey have come a long way, much to the dissatisfaction of the likes of Mr Erdogan. Recent criticisms of the Turkish armed forces and accusations of negligence in protecting Turkish soldiers would have led to disappearances, indefinite detentions and heavy sentences just 10 years ago. The main reason why the military chiefs have engaged in extremely angry verbal exchanges with the Turkish media is not that our national security has been jeopardized by debates in the media. They are simply angry because the Turkish public no longer accepts its ascribed place; sheepish and humble subjects.

The Turkish armed forces still spend the biggest cut of the Turkish budget, and no one except itself knows where the money goes and no civilian authority is in place to keep it accountable. In a funny twist of the story, Mr Erdogan has gone to their aid and joined the chorus of asking the critics to return to the place they belong to.

Dear pashas and sultans, I got bad news. It is you that needs to get used to this new place, as there is no going back for us to the old shoebox. You need to be able to learn how to relate to increasingly educated, sophisticated and independent Turkish public. We, your humble subjects, the Turkish intellectuals and media, are increasingly confident of using our freedom of expression and thought and you should increasingly internalise that you are there to serve and protect us.

PKK and failures of Turkish policies

Published in Turkish Daily News, 13 October

These are sad days for Turkey. Every new report of a terror attack, sad deaths of our soldiers, call for a tougher response and cross-border operations bring back the memories of those long and cold years of fear, anger, brutality and polarization.

However, things are no longer what they used to be. Turkey has progressed considerably thanks to the EU accession talks. Even with major glitches, such as the renowned Article 301, and increasing nationalistic tendencies, freedoms of expression, religion and association have come a long way. There used to be “no Kurds in Turkey, just Turks.” Now, there are Kurds and Kurdish music, media and language schools.

Kurds too have evolved and changed. Neither the PKK, nor separatist Kurdish nationalism, enjoy the same widespread “liberator” aura they once possessed. With votes given to the AKP, the majority of Kurdish citizens have shown where they are and how they view the problem and its solution. For Kurds who have been disillusioned with old school Kurdish political and militant imaginations, the AKP represented a new chance that led them to give it a benefit of the doubt.

This was in fact surprising, as they have traditionally been let down seriously by mainstream Turkish political parties. However, Kurds of Turkey remain alienated, scattered, bitter and weary. The new generations are growing in their parents' horrible memories of the mistakes committed in the 90s under a regional state of exception – the legal right given to security forces to act illegally.

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Problems with Turkish democracy:

The Turkish intelligentsia, especially left-wing and liberals, has traditionally drawn attention to the problems with Turkish democracy and how a true democracy, economic investment in eastern Turkey and respect toward Kurdish ethnicity would be the answers to these recurring problems. This is still a valid proposal, as we are still facing the outcomes of a long history of inequality and powerful outcomes of forced assimilation.

Now, even the Turkish Armed forces are pointing out (whether in a genuine conviction or in an attempt to remove increasing public scapegoating from themselves, only time will show) that the problem cannot be solved by military force alone. But of course, it would be right to suspect that the military would be the first to condemn any “postmodernists” who would suggest that we drop our homogenization policies and cherish ethnic diversity. After all, the men in uniform are the primary reason why Turkish society and shallow politicians have always believed in using force as the way to handle ‘subversive' Kurds. They are already asking for “more rights,” meaning the lifting of many human rights improvements came with the EU process.

If we were to propose a real way forward, those who “love their nation” would be the second to condemn us saying that our proposal for a mature democracy will lead to a breakup of the Turkish nation and the creation of a Kurdistan on Turkish soil, as if in this world the only two options available are “homogenize-assimilate” or “give up land.”

It is now too late for the traditional liberal argument, although addressing the alienation of Kurds in Turkey is an important part of the solution. The PKK has evolved into being an international symbol for Kurdish resistance. The dramatic power change in Iraq and the lucrative opening this provided for Kurds there have added a brand new element to the PKK. Turkish incursions into Iraq have always caused bitterness in Iraqi Kurds, but now they have the money, freedom and power to show some muscle. There is also the increasingly strategic Kurdish diaspora in Europe and a renewal of international Kurdish nationalism due to the possibility of finally achieving the dream of a “Kurdistan” in Iraq.

Integrating Kurds into political life:

So in a sense, Turkey is no longer facing only a domestic challenge, but an international one. The solution will not only involve genuinely addressing the problems faced by Kurds in Turkey today, but also evaluating Turkish foreign policy on Kurds in Iraq.

Any solution to integrate the Kurds of Turkey into mainstream political and social life will involve a willingness to negotiate an amnesty and efforts to restore their dignity. We need to address gross human rights abuses that have been committed in southeast Turkey over the last 25 years. With hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons and tens of thousands of people who still carry the marks of the “military muscle” shown to the “Kurdish problem,” the recruiting ground for the PKK remains fertile. This is not helped by the sad fact that anti-Kurdish rhetoric, even those that are clearly giving the name Kurds that needs to be “done away with,” goes unpunished at the courts even today.

One thing is certain after the deaths of 4,735 soldiers, 1,417 village security guards, 490 police officers, 6,453 civilians and 21,478 PKKs in the last 25 years – our traditional political wisdom is bankrupt. Things are still fragile and far from a clear end in sight. The AKP gave the impression to Kurds that they represent a new direction. Thus far, our attention-crazy prime minister has only played on this hope in vote-gathering and self-declared political genius of his favourite pastime; talking. The AKP has already failed non-Muslims in Turkey, who thought that this government would address their problems and protect them. Now the AKP faces the risk of failing the Kurds, too.