The Kurdish issue has long been a fundamental problem of Turkey, costing the lives of more than 20 thousand citizens. Being tragic as it is, lost lives is not the only cost of the lingering ill-fated approach of consecutive Turkish governments. The Kurdish issue, which is first and foremost a problem of democracy (or lack thereof), has also been used as a pretext to suppress democratic demands of not only Kurds, but all Turkish citizens. Although, the so-called, ‘resolution process’ is on the table, the AKP government is proved to be insincere for peace, as it lacks a vision for democracy.
CHP put forward an alternative model for attaining peace and resolving the Kurdish issue which considers democratic participation of all segments of society as an indispensable requirement. Although we proposed number of bills in the parliament to put our perspective in effect and voiced our constructive criticisms regarding the ongoing process, apparently, we have not been able to convey our approach to the international public as effectively as we would have wished.
We hope this booklet will help you to get a better grasp of CHP’s approach to the Kurdish issue and model for peace, which we believe the best way forward towards our long-standing hope: Peace and democracy.
Sincerely,
Sezgin TANRIKULU, Ph.D.
Deputy Chairman, CHP