Turkish election offers hope for Kurds

Plumes of smoke rose above the fields around Diyarbakir, in Turkey’s Kurdish south-east, from fires lit to mark the traditional festival of Newruz. Under spring sunshine, families picnicked and dancers stamped in circles as Kurdish singers took the stage before a crowd of hundreds of thousands.

The peaceful celebration shows how far the region has come since the early 1990s, when violence between the army and the separatist Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) was at its height and Newruz was a flashpoint for clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

Diyarbakir has become one of Turkey’s hottest electoral battlegrounds. The ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) is fighting to dislodge the Kurdish Democratic Society party (DTP) mayor in municipal polls this weekend. Both sides say the result could accelerate efforts to end the conflict.

“Turkey’s on the right route ... but it’s following it slowly,” says Galip Ensarioglu, chairman of Diyarbakir’s chamber of commerce.

In recent months, Turkish state television has begun broadcasting in the once-banned Kurdish language, an important step for a minority that accounts for almost a fifth of Turkey’s 70m population.

The AKP has pledged to pump money into the south-east’s threadbare economy. The PKK is fighting a rearguard action from hideouts in the Qandil mountains of Northern Iraq. There has been no violence inside Turkey for three months.

Warming relations with Iraq could lead to a breakthrough. Abdullah Gul, the first Turkish president to visit Baghdad in more than 30 years, this week broke a taboo in referring to the “Kurdistan regional administration” in northern Iraq.

Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president and himself a Kurd, called for the rebels to disarm or leave Iraq. Iraqi Kurdish leaders will soon convene a security conference that could call for an amnesty and an end to the PKK’s armed struggle.

But first, Turkey’s government will have to persuade Kurds that it can protect their rights better than the insurgents, while reassuring other voters it is not caving in to terrorism.

The municipal campaign in the south-east is being fought for higher stakes than just city services. AKP victories in the south-east could “increase the chances for Ankara to ... clarify its intentions”, especially on the timing and scope of an amnesty for PKK members, says Yavuz Baydar, a commentator.

But the DTP looks set to hold on to its strongholds. Many in Diyarbakir are frustrated that the AKP, wary of provoking opponents, has not used its majority in parliament to make constitutional changes that would allow minorities greater rights and make it easier for Kurdish deputies to win seats. “What are they waiting for? They don’t need anyone’s support,” said Sezgin Tanrikulu, a human rights lawyer.

Yet a convincing DTP win could strengthen the party, under threat of closure for links to the PKK, as a political alternative to violence. Osman Baydemir, Diyarbakir’s mayor, said it would force other politicians to take DTP deputies, ostracised since their election to parliament in 2007, more seriously.

But the DTP looks neither willing nor able to press the PKK rebels to abandon their fight for an ethnic homeland.

Leyla Zana, who spent years in jail for her firebrand speeches, won cheers from Saturday’s crowds when she reproached Mr Talabani for suggesting disarmament and said an amnesty should be the last stage in the process.

In Ankara, politicians in suits leapt awkwardly over Nevruz fires to signal official acceptance of a festival once considered subversive. But in Diyarbakir, the local AKP candidate, Kutbettin Arzu, has an uphill task to win voters. Men in a smoke-filled teahouse on the city outskirts are adamant in their support for the DTP.

“We won’t vote for any other party,” said Abidin, whose village survived the army’s scorched earth tactics in the 1990s. They make little secret of their sympathy for the PKK fighters. “If you go to Qandil mountains,” says the waiter, “say hello to our friends.”