Ruşen Çakır said “it is far from a utopic dream” for the autonomous Kurdish regions in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq to unite under a confederation style model.
KURDISH POLITICS is living a golden age despite the Kobane crisis, according to a leading Turkish analyst.
Ruşen Çakır said the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), did not produce the Kurdish solution that Turkey hoped for; rather, Öcalan was able to create one of the most important political movements in the Middle East from prison.
Speaking at a conference hall belonging to Unite the Union in Holborn, Mr Çakır told an audience of journalists, academics and many students that the movements fighting in Kobane today were in large party the result of the PKK leader’s efforts.
He said: “The first politician to talk about the Kurdish existence was the leader of a centre-right party, Süleyman Demirel. But this step of his was not enough because another reality Turkey needed to confront was the PKK.
“The Turkish state tried for years to find a solution to the Kurdish problem without the PKK. It particularly believed that its dreams would come true after Abdullah Öcalan was captured. But the Kurdish political movement experienced its brightest period when Öcalan was behind bars.
“Do not mistake me: I am not saying that the PKK’s remaining leadership team was effective in this. It was Öcalan himself who personally directed the process from his prison cell and he has transformed his movement into one of the most important not just in Turkey but in the Middle East.”
Mr Çakır said that so long as Turkey refused to recognise the “Kurdistan” reality and regarded it as a regional problem, it would not be possible to solve the Kurdish problem.
But he added that in the absence of political alternatives offered by opposition parties like the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the governing AK Party remained the Kurds’ best possible chance for peace.
It is far from a utopic dream, he said, for the autonomous Kurdish regions in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq to unite under a confederation style model.