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In a declaration concluding its two-day meeting in Diyarbakır on Dec. 26 and 27 of last year, the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), one of the organs of the pro-Kurdish political movement, repeated its demand for the decentralization of the state administration in Turkey, allowing for the formation of broad autonomy for regions.
With this, the DTK expressed in concrete form the demand for autonomy it first put forward in July 2011. The declaration stated that the model of autonomous regions it suggested, which seemed to be mostly inspired by Spain, should be debated, negotiated and finally approved by Parliament in order to come into effect.
Prior to the DTK, various pro-Kurdish political parties have put forward the demand for the creation of autonomous regions not only in the Kurdish-majority region but across the entire country. Some pro-Kurdish political parties demand a federal restructuring of the state administration. Last week, a spokesperson for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) asserted that, during peace talks, Justice and Development Party (AKP) government representatives had said that decentralization reforms were being prepared.
The idea of saving Turkey from the current over-centralized administration has not only been raised by pro-Kurdish parties and groups. Those aware of Turkey's social, political and historical realities and the requirements of a liberal and pluralist democracy have been arguing at least since the 1990s that the decentralization of the state is indispensable for the consolidation of democracy, the resolution of the Kurdish question and protection of the territorial integrity of the country.
Global experiences also indicate the necessity of such reforms. When confronted with (in some cases violent) demands for recognition by ethnic minorities, nearly all democracies have adopted decentralization reforms in this or another model. Prominent examples are the UK, Spain and Belgium. Even Sri Lanka, where the Tamil armed insurgency for independence was crushed by military force in 2009, amended its constitution in 1987 to grant autonomy to Tamil-majority regions in the north and east of the island. The government that assumed power at the beginning of last year is promising reconciliation measures and to put in force regional autonomy.
In Turkey's current circumstances, where the escalation of violence between the security forces and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants is raising fears of growing alienation among Kurds, the DTK declaration can be viewed positively since it emphasizes a resolution of the Kurdish problem through negotiation, democratization and within existing borders. However, the fact that the demand for autonomy has been made in support of the armed resistance to the security forces by pro-PKK militants in towns and cities of the Kurdish-majority region diminishes its prospects of bearing fruit. The demand for autonomy would surely have enlisted much broader support if it was put forward by the HDP in Parliament, in an environment where the PKK refrained from armed resistance.
The number-one issue on Turkey's agenda today is the struggle to try to oblige the AKP government to respect basic rights and freedoms, revive the peace process and avoid the institutionalization of one-man rule. There is no doubt that the proclamation of autonomy by armed pro-PKK youth groups digging trenches and building barricades did not in any way help this effort.
Its declarations in support of such groups have brought into question the HDP's commitment to political struggle. There is no doubt, however, that the government's strategy of squeezing the HDP between the state and the PKK has played a major role in this. Democratic forces that demand that arms are laid down and the peace process is revived should not for a moment forget that the HDP is an indispensable part of the effort towards these aims. If it is largely alienated from the pro-Kurdish movement, the HDP will surely not be able to play any part in it. Let us hope that all who are concerned with the preservation of the territorial integrity of the country are aware of the fact that the cost of excluding the HDP from the political process would be extremely high for the country.