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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
Turk Official On Kurds, Ozal's Strategic Cooperation
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Foreign Broadcast Information Service, April 24, 1991
Turkey: Ecevit on Kurds, Ozal's `Strategic Cooperation'
</hdr>
<body>
<p>[Unattributed interview with Democratic Left Party leader
Bulent Ecevit in Ankara; date not given. Istanbul CUMHURIYET in
Turkish 31 Mar 91 p 4]
</p>
<p> [Text] DSP [Democratic Left Party] leader Bulent Ecevit
proposed the establishment of an "institute of Turkish culture"
instead of a Kurdish institute. Ecevit, who underscored the
need for a constitution that will echo national conciliation,
answered our questions as follows:
</p>
<p> [CUMHURIYET] If the Iraqi Kurds form a federated or separate
state, could the idea that "large numbers of Kurds live in
southeastern Turkey; therefore this region of Turkey must join
that state" gain greater significance?
</p>
<p> [Ecevit] Some people are already saying that. However, that
reasoning can create problems in all parts of the world.
</p>
<p> For example, if Turkey claims that Turks constitute a
majority in certain regions or federated states of neighboring
countries and argues that those regions or federated states must
join Turkey, there would be an upheaval.
</p>
<p> The important issue is that we change the semifeudal
structure of eastern and southeastern Anatolia, ensure rapid
development within the framework of a fair system, and end the
repression of the people of the region by the state. To the
extent that we can succeed in doing these things, a federated
or independent Kurdish state that may be established in Iraq
would not have any effect on Turkey.
</p>
<p> Of course, absurdities such as bans on mother tongues must
be ended.
</p>
<p> [CUMHURIYET] Proposals have been made to establish an
"institute of Kurdish culture" in Turkey. What do you think
about that?
</p>
<p> [Ecevit] A few years ago, an American couple who are our
personal friends were visiting Turkey. They were part of a tour
program by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington for people
interested in Turkey's history and culture. When they arrived
in Ankara, I took them to the village near Polatli where King
Midas is said to be buried. A villager acted as our guide. While
we were talking near a considerably deep excavation site, our
American friends said: "The program of our tour is very
confusing and intensive. It would be better if they could
organize a separate tour for each period."
</p>
<p> I conveyed my friends' remarks to the guide. The villager
said:
</p>
<p> "Just look at the layers in the excavation site here. Can
anyone separate the layers as the Bronze Age, the Phrygian
period, the Hittite period, the Lydian period, the Hellenistic
period, the Roman period, the Christian period, and the Turkish
or Islamic period and then organize tours for each one?"
</p>
<p> There is a lesson that some of our progressive intellectuals
who are arguing for the establishment of an institute of
Kurdish culture in Turkey can learn for that villager's remarks.
Turkey's culture is an amalgam made out of the synthesis of so
many different cultures that it is impossible to examine the
components of that amalgam independent of each other.
</p>
<p> Consequently, I think that what is needed is the
establishment of an "institute of Turkish culture. Such an
institute should obviously be able to study in depth the Kurdish
contribution and component in Turkey's culture without any
zealotry and without trying racist presumptions to the effect
that "Kurds descend from the Turkish race."
</p>
<p> Turkey's people, like its culture, is a whole or an amalgam
which cannot be divided into components on the basis of ethnic
roots. Because over thousands of years, those with different
racial backgrounds who came from different places and the
children of people who lived on these lands earlier fused
together without discrimination.
</p>
<p> That is why, as I have always said, in Turkey's context, the
term "Turk" refers not to a race but a nation. However,
everyone who says "I belong to the Turkish nation" must be able
to say, if he wishes, that he is a Turk of Central Asian
ancestry or a Turk of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Circassian,
Abkhazian, Georgian, or Laz ancestry. Indeed, he can say it.
</p>
<p> The Armenians, the Greeks, and the Jews in our country have
also fused with the Turkish nation while preserving their
ethnic identities. None of them can be viewed with
discrimination.
</p>
<p> [CUMHURIYET] President Ozal disclosed that he proposed a
"strategic cooperation" to President Bush at Camp David. What
do you think about that?
</p>
<p> [Ecevit] Mr. Ozal cannot have proposed "strategic
cooperation" to the U.S. President on behalf of Turkey because
such a decision has not been made in the appropriate organs of
the government of the Turkish Republic. Moreover, it is not
known what Mr. Ozal means by "strategic cooperation."
</p>
<p> When journalists asked Mr. Ozal what he means, he replied:
</p>
<p> "You should speculate on that and try to understand."
</p>
<p> Mr. Ozal may not be a serious statesman. It is evident that
he is not fond of seriousness. However, the Turkish state is a
serious state. Since the United States is also a serious state,
President Bush should not have interpreted Mr. Ozal's proposal
as a proposal made by a serious government on behalf of Turkey.
</p>
<p> One may think that, at best, Mr. Ozal may have proposed
"strategic cooperation" to President Bush for his own political
status and future. Indeed, according to a report leaked to the
press, Minister of State Gunes Taner who participated in the
Camp David talks with Mr. Ozal, told American officials: "If you
do not give us the money we are asking for, we will participate
in elections from a difficult position." This confirms that Mr.
Ozal may have proposed "strategic cooperation" to the United
States not on behalf of Turkey, but on his own behalf and for
the sake of his own and his party's interests.
</p>
<p> [CUMHURIYET] Can it be said that Ozal or Turkey came out
stronger from the Camp David talks?
</p>
<p> [Ecevit] Mr. Ozal is not the first Middle Eastern leader who
has been warmly welcomed at Camp David and who has won
widespread recognition and respect in the United States for
laying the foundations of a "strategic cooperation." Former
Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat also enjoyed such privileges
earlier. However, in the end Egypt was isolated in the Middle
East for many years. Despite the generous aid it received from
the United States, Egypt was never able to put its economic and
political affairs in order.
</p>
<p> Consequently, we must act very carefully as a nation. We
must tell the entire world that the president of the Turkish
Republic is not in the same position as the Egyptian president,
that he is "not accountable" in a legal sense and that he cannot
conclude or propose on his own agreements binding on Turkey.
</p>
<p> [CUMHURIYET] Just before Mr. Ozal left for the United
States, certain proposals to amend the constitutions were
disclosed as "drafts." What do you think about them?
</p>
<p> [Ecevit] The DSP is the first party that spoke about the
need for a new constitution. The party's 1985 program has a
special section on this subject. Today everyone acknowledges
that the current constitution does not fit Turkey and that
democracy cannot become reality and society cannot have peace
with this constitution. Consequently, a new constitution which
echoes national conciliation must be drafted without delay.
</p>
<p> We showed how the new constitution can be used on national
conciliation by a decision of our [party's] grand congress on
24 March. As stated in that decision, general elections must be
held as early as possible this year within the framework of an
electoral system which does not distort the will of the voters.
For the moment, constitutional changes must be limited to
reducing the voting age to 18 and the eligibility age f