Turkey's Ethnic Minorities Speak Up on Peace Talks

Representatives from Turkey's various ethic groups including Armenians, Greeks and Georgians spoke up to bianet regarding their support on current peace talk between Turkey and PKK.  

Emphasizing on the completion of the talks and the establishment of peace on Turkey's decades long Kurdish problem, representatives expressed their hopes towards a democratic constitution and a farewell to arms. 

Mıgırdiç Margosyan (Author): "We need peace for all humanity. In our country, some authorities avoided the establishment of peace with Kurdish people for decades by ignoring their identity. It turned out to be a very wrong policy. Did we really need to lose thousands of people to learn this? But I still value the ongoing efforts. We need to take the necessary steps for a better coexistence. We don't know yet what the future will bring, but I do believe that peace can be established as long as the dialogue continues." 

Eşref Yılmaz (Georgian Culture Center Chairperson): "Since the foundation of our association, we have introduced the solidarity of people and democratic values as our motto. We are supporting all kinds of efforts towards peace. It has been a tough process to transition from racist politics into democracy in Turkey. The administration still finds it challenging to accept Kurds as stakeholder. Imrali is only the name of an island. It can't be a process. So we need to be bolder about the process."

Bayram Erat (Pomak People Culture Association Chairperson): "we are supporting the peace efforts. As Pomak people, we want to coexist with other peoples of Turkey. We support unity and solidarity."

İsmail Avcı Bucaklişi (Laz activist, researcher and authors): "The ongoing talks between Turkey and PKK is the most important process of the century. Unfortunately, it took so long to come to this point, but I strongly believe that it should end with peace. This process will affect Turkey in a positive way."

Ömer Asan (Author): "I strongly believe that we need to say farewell to guns immediately. If we want to establish a durable peace, we need to create a constitutional agreement. This is a matter of improving democracy. Turkey definitely needs a better democracy."

Hikmet Akçiçek (Member of a music band playing in Hemşin language): "I support the peace process. We lost too many lives in Turkey. I consider this peace process to be a significant step to end all the bloodbath and establish a more democratic country. Even though the government gives signals to turn this process into a segway to presidential system, we need to struggle to focus on democratization." (AS/BM)