Erdogan woos Kurds: freedom for PKK chief Öcalan? | EUROtoday

Seit Oktober kommen von Devlet Bahçeli, dem Chef der rechts­extremen MHP, überraschende Äußerungen. Bahçeli, der zuvor die Kurdenfrage geleugnet hatte, nicht einmal das Wort Kurden in den Mund nahm, sondern lieber von „kurdischstämmigen Türken“ sprach, schlug vor, den zu lebenslanger Haft verurteilten PKK-Chef Öcalan, dessen Hinrichtung er seit Jahren gefordert hatte, freizulassen, ja er solle gar vor dem Parlament sprechen. Über die Auseinandersetzungen, die seit 1984 rund 100.000 Soldaten, Zivilisten und PKK-Aktivisten das Leben gekostet haben, sagte er: „Es wurde genug gelitten, es gab genug Kummer. Waffen sind keine Alternative, unser Ziel ist inkludierende Politik.“

Selbstverständlich ist es kein Zufall, dass Bahçeli, der zuvor jede demokratische Forderung der Kurden abgelehnt und auf Sicherheitspolitik gepocht hatte, in die Rolle der Friedenstaube schlüpft. Er weiß, dass die Opposition seinem Bündnispartner Erdoğan im Parlament kein Visum für seine Wiederwahl erteilen wird. Deshalb zwinkert er jetzt der Partei der Kurden zu, nachdem er jahrelang ihr Verbot gefordert hatte. Ein solcher Zickzackkurs überrascht in der türkischen Politik nicht, das Palastregime hat uns daran gewöhnt. Allerdings haben wir nicht vergessen, was jenen widerfuhr, die auch nur ein Zehntel dessen verlangten, mit dem Bahçeli jetzt vorprescht. Mehr als 2000 Wissenschaftlern, die 2016 eine Petition zur Beendigung der Auseinandersetzungen mit der PKK unterschrieben, wurde ihr Leben ruiniert.

Wenn Sie die neuen Äußerungen hören, glauben Sie aber nicht, die Türkei hätte sich geändert. Wichtiger als der Gehalt eines Wortes ist hierzulande, wer es wann sagt. Die Umstände, die die Akademiker ins Exil zwangen, haben sich nicht geändert, ganz im Gegenteil, weil wir im Hafen der Autokratie ankern, setzt sich der Braindrain fort. Die Emigranten kommen in der im Ausland gefundenen freieren Atmosphäre wissenschaftlich weiter. Einer neuen Statistik zufolge hat sich die akademische Leistung aus der Türkei emigrierter Wissenschaftler um 27 Prozent erhöht.

The slogans that young, highly qualified people posted from the airport before their flight from Turkey have become a ritual. When a doctor travels to Germany, he says goodbye to his country with: “Turkey has lost a doctor, Germany has gained one.” Such posts, of which there are numerous on social media day by day, will need to have irritated Erdoğan very a lot, so he final weekend at a gathering with the celebration youth mentioned: “After sayings like ‘Turkey has lost a doctor, an engineer, an artist, this and that country gained one’, as they are maliciously circulated on social media, it works not like continues to claim. Most people who have completed the studies made possible for them by the state and gained professional experience here before going abroad are disappointed there and unfortunately look for ways to return.”

However, neither visible proof nor official statistics verify Erdoğan’s assertion. What the poet Yahya Kemal Beyatlı wrote at first of the 20 th century in his poem “The Silent Ship” is extra correct: “Each of those who left thinks with thanks and happiness / That they will stay here for many a year, because no one returns. “ (Translation: Annemarie Schimmel) Do you think that those who went there didn’t know what we’re doing here? Is it possible that they neither know the state bureaucracy in Turkey nor that Islamist sects have taken over the education system? A television series was banned from broadcasting twice because it criticized cults. The supervisory authority RTÜK, the state censorship body, was of the opinion that dealing with the issue of minors marrying into cults violated ideal national values. The same authority, on the other hand, considered it covered by freedom of expression that the person responsible for IS in Turkey said in a live broadcast that people who advocate secularism and vote accordingly are “wicked”. Likewise, there isn’t a drawback with a nationalist-minded assassin who killed a journalist within the Nineteen Seventies and later carried out the assassination try on Pope John Paul II declaring Hitler a hero on tv.

Meanwhile, the justice minister of the federal government, which censors criticism however accepts the glorification of violence, made an virtually mocking assertion: “We have ensured that rights and freedoms are better protected and at the same time strengthened the deterrent effect of the penal system.” That’s not sufficient : “We have initiated reforms that amount to a quiet revolution.” While tv was broadcasting his assertion, 9 younger folks have been arrested for protesting towards Erdoğan. And whereas our state is now calling for Öcalan, who’s accountable for the deaths of tens of hundreds, to be launched, it’s banning The Long Walk to Freedom, the guide by Nelson Mandela, one of many world’s most peaceable leaders.

Would folks return to such a local weather after tasting freedom within the international locations they emigrated to? There can be no motive for them to return dwelling for financial causes. Why do you have to pay two euros in a grocery store in Istanbul for a beer which you can get for one euro in Berlin? Especially since they solely earn a 3rd of the cash right here in Germany. As acknowledged in earlier letters, unlawful liquor manufacturing has proliferated in Turkey since Erdoğan exorbitantly elevated the costs of alcoholic drinks. In Istanbul alone, 37 folks died within the final six weeks because of consuming adulterated alcohol. Not even terrorism claimed so many lives in a single yr. We additionally pay extra for espresso within the dwelling of Turkish mocha than right here. And for an iPhone that prices 1,199 euros in Germany, we’ve got to shell out 2,262 euros.

But in case you ask Erdoğan, we’ve got the financial difficulties behind us. Maybe for him. The record of the palace’s bills for 2023, offered to parliament final week, reveals 1.25 million euros for clothes alone. 425,000 euros have been spent on meals and drinks.

From Turkish by Sabine Adatepe.