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Turkish Parliament. FILE PHOTO

Iraq, Iran, and Turkey's Kurds see the new initiative as a positive step to settle the Kurdish issue via peaceful methods.
A fierce battle occurred between the Turkish nationalist opposition and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as they discussed the Kurdish issue on August 10.

Turkey's Interior Minister, Beşir Atalay, who is also the coordinator of the government's Kurdish initiative, delivered a speech on November 10 in Parliament in which he said: "The democratic initiative will release Turkey from its shackles." Atalay calls the issue in Parliament "a national unity and brotherhood project."

He said the initiative is not restricted to expanding the rights of the country's Kurdish population, but about improving democracy, and therefore will result in "more freedom for everybody."
As the opposition attacked, Atalay continued to speak and stressed that the project does not contain anything that would alter Turkey's unitary structure.

"Nobody in Turkey can challenge the unchangeable articles of the Constitution, the unitary state, the official language, which is Turkish, the flag featuring a star and crescent, and the national anthem," he said, adding that speeches in Parliament should not feed hatred in the society but instead send messages of peace.

"Come on," he said. "Let's set our party politics and party's interests aside. Let's create a soft language to reinforce our feelings of brotherhood without excluding anybody."

Atalay also warned that there are "lobbies" that are fed by the conflict, and they "provoke" society in that regard by saying the democratic initiative is about dividing the country. However, he said the initiative is about consolidating democracy in Turkey.
Turkey's pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) expressed its delight that the Kurdish issue is being discussed in Turkish Parliament. DTP stated that the best place to address the Kurdish issue is in Parliament.

The Turkish opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputies were uneasy about the debate, which they said should not be brought to Parliament on the anniversary of the death of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. They said the commemoration activities would be overshadowed by the debate.

Before the parliamentary discussion, CHP leader Deniz Baykal held his party's parliamentary group meeting and harshly criticized the AKP's insistence on the November 10 date, as well as the Kurdish initiative in general.

Stating that "November 10 is a day on which the flags are lowered to half-mast," Baykal said, "and a plan that targets the accomplishments of the Republic is being staged on such a day.

Despite all the opposition against the Kurdish initiative, Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran see the initiative as very positive because in the past Turkey always denied the existence of Kurds; now at least they talk about the Kurdish issue in their Parliament.

The AKP government announced its intention to settle the Kurdish question through peaceful methods during the summer, but has not detailed its plan. The Kurdish part of the democratic initiative of the government is expected to grant cultural and linguistic rights to the country's Kurds.