The Kurdish question for beginners

We are publishing a summary translation of the article that Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş wrote from the Edirne Prison.

Click to read the article in Turkish

In fact, it should have been well-known until now by everyone exactly and clearly what the Kurdish question is. Because this problem is one of the most important among the main problems of our country, unsolved for very long years.

However, I am sorry to see that there is no clarity about what this problem is. And some hear about the Kurdish question for the first time or even say that there is no such problem.

If we are to make a very short definition, the problems Kurds have or live through, which started in the last periods of the Ottoman State and intensified in the first years of the Republic, branched out, spread and became deeply rooted in the past hundred years is the Kurdish question. So it is not the Kurds that are the problem; it is the things that the Kurds had to live through and the whole that results from these.

The Kurdish Question, which was said to "not exist" before, is said to have been "solved" today. The first was not true, neither is the second.

First question

• I love you.
• Ich liebe dich.
• Je vous aime.
• Ez ji te hez dikim.

Which one of the above do you think is in Kurdish, which is the language of the Kurds whose population is approximately 50 million in the world and almost 20 million in Türkiye who we call 'our brothers' since a thousand years?

Were you able to guess which one? If you did, were you able to understand a single word? No? Then you also have a Kurdish question."

Another question

• Our kins in Bulgaria
• Our kins in Azerbaijan
• Our kins in Cyprus
• Our kins in Germany

Who do you think is being referred to with the expressions above?
This time you know. Yes. Turks.

Now let us look at article 66 of the Constitution. It reads: "All who are bound to the Turkish State with a citizenship bond are Turks."

So why are the above our kins but the Kurds in Syria, the Kurds in Iraq, the Kurds in Iran, or in other parts of the world are not kins?

Therefore "Turk" does not include "Kurd." The Turks are a very old nation and their history dates back thousands of years before to the Middle Asia steppes.

The Kurds are not Turks and it is impossible for them to be. To call a Kurd "Turk" and to try to make him/her a Turk is the Kurdish question. Because the Kurds are also a very old nation whose history dates back thousands of years in Mesopotamia, the current Kurdistan geography.

And their language belongs to another language family. Kurdish belongs to the Indo-European languages while Turkish belongs to the Ural-Altaic languages.

If you say 'There is no language such as Kurdish. We are all Turks and everybody's mother tongue is Turkish, then yes, you have a Kurdish question."

There is no Kurdish education in Turkey

Those who think that there is Kurdish education in Turkey are wrong. There is only a Kurdish elective course of two hours a week and everything is being done so that even that elective course is not selected by the students.

Of course, everyone should learn Turkish, the official language. Turkish is the common language of us all. It is one of the common values uniting us. We should also learn English which is becoming the world language for example.

However, every child should also be able to learn their own mother tongue and take some of the courses in that language. This is practiced in many developed countries and the potential of our country is well suited for this. But article 82 of our Constitution says that there is no other mother tongue in Turkey other than Turkish, or even if there is it cannot be an education language."

Let us look at recent history

For example, did you know that there was education in Kurdish in the madrasahs in Kurdistan for centuries including the first years of the Republic? You are wrong if you think that only religious education was given in these madrasahs. Science, math, social sciences, and astronomy were also taught. Of course in Kurdish.

Do you know that Kurdish was banned after 1925 and that a fine was imposed for every Kurdish word spoken in marketplaces?

Do you know that it is still forbidden to speak Kurdish in the Parliament and a few Kurdish sentences which are spoken are written in the minutes as X?

Sorry, this has changed. Now they are writing "a language that could not be understood" or "an unknown language."

Another question

You are attending an activity in Istanbul. There are people coming from different parts of the country and the world. You meet and talk to them. Everyone tells where they came to this activity from:

I came from Caucuses.
I came Trace.
I came from Cappadocia.
I came from Kurdistan.

Which one of the above sentences irritated you?

Were you angry even by reading a sentence with the word Kurdistan? Then you have a Kurdish question. No offense!

Do you know that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk first wrote a letter to Kurdistan and asked for their support in the Liberation War after he landed in Samsun in 1919 and that he was not irritated writing either Kurd or Kurdistan?

Again did you know that in the first Parliament chaired by Atatürk, the Kurdish deputies were named Kurdistan deputies in the minutes?
Therefore when you say Kurdistan, it is not that you mean that Turkey should be divided and a separate state should be founded. You are defining a region with its correct historical name.

Rank of Diyarbakır in level of development

It is such for Kurdish, so how is it for the Kurdish cities?

According to the official figures published in 1927 Diyarbakır comes fifth after İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara and Bursa in the level of development in social and economic respects. However after a decision is taken that year to make all investments in the West, the Kurdish cities become poorer and poorer every year.

In 1980s, Diyarbakır is at the bottom. And according to the data from State Planning Organization published in 2017, it is the 68th.

So the claim that "the region is underdeveloped due to terror" is wrong.

"Kurds can reach any position"

The Kurds have never come to effective positions in the state with their own identity, speaking Kurdish, thinking in Kurdish, dreaming in Kurdish, living in Kurdish so being Kurdish.

Those who could become high-level bureaucrats were those who agreed to be "Kurdish origin Turks" and who accepted the "Turkishness Agreement*."

For instance, did you know that Şerafettin Elçi who was Minister of Public Works in 1978 stood trial because he said "I am Kurdish?" If you are saying "well this is good" you have a Kurdish question.

We have to solve the Kurdish question without arms, violence, or conflicts, and by sitting down and talking to each other, understanding each other, telling and agreeing, in peace.

Moreover, countries facing similar problems were able to solve these problems and they are at peace now. For instance, the Turks in Bulgaria can live as Turks and the Bask people in Spain can live as Bask people and it is not the end of the world.

Let us sum up

Do you know what is the Kurdish question?

We can keep on telling without taking offense, without getting tired. But as for you, you should try to understand, please. Because the Kurdish question is also your problem.

Start with empathizing for instance. Then continue with learning historical facts. And then you learn some Kurdish this time. The first Kurdish sentence you will learn can be this one: "Ez jî ji te hez dikim." (SD/EMK/PE/VK)

* Turkishness Agreement, a book by Barış Ünlü in Turkish, Dipnot Yayınları