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Towards a Resolution: an Assessment of Possibilities, Opportunities and Problems

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Towards a Resolution: an Assessment of Possibilities, Opportunities and Problems TURKEY PEACE ASSEMBLY TOWARDS A RESOLUTION: AN ASSESSMENT OF POSSIBILITIES, OPPORTUNITIES AND PROBLEMS Assoc. Dr. Ayşe Betül Çelik Sabancı University, Department Member Murat Çelikkan Journalist-Centre for Truth Justice Memory Assoc.Prof. Evren Balta Yıldız Technical University, Department Member Assist.Prof. Nil Mutluer Nişantaşı University, Department Member Assoc. Prof. Levent Korkut Medipol University, Department Member Turkey Peace Assembly NOVEMBER 2015 [email protected] | [email protected] +90 (212) 249 2654 www.turkiyebarismeclisi.com /Baris_Meclisi 1 TOWARDS A RESOLUTION AN ASSESSMENT OF POSSIBILITIES, OPPORTUNITIES AND PROBLEMS This report covers the resolution/peace process that took place between the years of 2013 and 2015 in Turkey. It was the first time that the Turkish army and the PKK experienced bilateral ceasefire. This work aimed to contribute to the peace process in the transformation of the ceasefire into a negotiation process. After this report had been written, in President Erdoğan’s words the peace process has been put into deep freeze. And now, peace process had changed into a violent process in Turkey. There have been street clashes, deaths, bombings and all-out massacres. Local mayors and politicians were arrested by the state. More then hundred people were killed in Ankara and Suruç blasts. Diyarbakır Bar President Tahir Elçi was killed while he was making a press statement asking an end to violence. This violent atmosphere under- mined the efforts of democratic powers, NGOs, and peace groups. The report which was written before the start of the violence tried to draw the attention of the actors to the shortcomings and dangers in the peace process. Unfortunately, the violence started to dominate Tur- key’s agenda again. The Turkish version of this report was introduced to the public in a conference named 'Towards a Peaceful Resolution' in İstanbul. Also, this Turkish version was pusblished by Metis Publishing, in October, 2015. The name of the book is 'Defending Peace Perspective' . This report is the written by five specialists’. We thank to Murat Çelikkan, co-ordinator of the report and other writers Assoc.Prof. Ayşe Betül Çelik, Evren Balta, Levent Korkut and Assist.Prof. Nil Mutluer. We would also like to thank Ms. Semra Somersan who translated the report and Mr. Nazım Dikbaş who translated the chronology. Best regards, Turkey Peace Assembly, October, 2015 The english version of the report was published by means of Heınrıch Böll Stıftung. 2 TURKEY PEACE ASSEMBLY CONTENTS The trajectory of the Peace Process ................................................................................................................................... 4 Murat Çelikkan - Evren Balta - Ayşe Betül Çelik - Nil Muluer - Levent Korkut The peace process: Negotiations and the Law ............................................................................................................... 14 Murat Çelikkan - Evren Balta - Ayşe Betül Çelik - Nil Muluer - Levent Korkut Socialization of the Peace Process ................................................................................................................................... 30 Ayşe Betül Çelik - Nil Muluer Human Security in the Peace Process .............................................................................................................................. 38 Evren Balta The Peace Process and Dealing with the Past ............................................................................................................... 50 Murat Çelikkan Chronology of the peace process ..................................................................................................................................... 64 PART 1 3 TOWARDS A RESOLUTION AN ASSESSMENT OF POSSIBILITIES, OPPORTUNITIES AND PROBLEMS The Trajectory of the Peace Process Ayşe Betül Çelik, Evren Balta, Levent Korkut, Murat Çelikkan, Nil Mutluer The conflict/war axis between the Kurdish armed political movement, the PKK (Partiya Karkerên Kurdis- tan/Kurdistan Workers Party) and the state of Turkey has, to a large extent, shaped the political, social and economic problems that Turkey has had to confront during the last 30 years. This milieu of war also led to deep-rooted social problems. Widely referred to as “The Kurdish Issue”, the ethno-political conflict has been instrumental in determining the agenda of Turkey since the 1980s. In addition to the heavy human cost of the conflict/war, there were inevitable political and social costs. Nearly 40 000 individuals, including soldiers, guerilla and civilians were killed. More than a thousand in- dividuals were forced to disappear, around 10 000 individuals were summarily and arbitrarily executed. More than one million people were forcibly displaced. Those survivors, on the other hand, have had to cope with torture and human rights violations. Within the context of the Peace or Resolution Process which was expected to progress from a suspension of hostilities to negotiations; a peaceful and democratic resolution was being pursued to the immense and complicated social concern known as the Kurdish Issue. Many reasons can be listed for the necessity of the resolution of problems away from the quite costly and burdensome military approaches and armed conflict towards peace and democracy. The most important, however, is the political will shown in this direction. The peace process in Turkey, like its counterparts around the world, demands political decisiveness. Consequently, the preference for a peaceful solution by both parties to the conflict is the most important factor in the initiation of this process. As has been shown in comparable circumstances around the world, political will in peace by both parties is crucial in the tran- sition from discussions to negotiation. However, with the transition to negotiations, the process has to be- come transparent to some extent, confidence-building measures implemented for both the public and the opposing parties, and the Process of Peace must be socialized to protect it from daily political influences. This is also the rationale behind establishing legal and social foundations for peace. The healthy progress, consolidation and endurance of the Peace Process is, no doubt, dependent upon social support. Apart from the social impact of the 30 plus years of conflict, the process is also dependent upon legal, socioeconomic, political, human safety issues, as well as those involved in reconciling with the past. Topics such as a novel definition of constitutional citizenship, how to overcome social and economic issues that led to the conflict, the transition from a state-centered to a human-centered security approach and the production of national and local models in this broader context, repairing individual-individual, individual-social, social-social and individual-state relations, in addition to compensation for individuals and the environment damaged by the conflict, will all be issues discussed in this context. It is essential to take measures to boost social support in debating these issues, developing the political and legal framework of the peace process, preparing the road map and timing the steps to be taken in the duration. The healthy progress of the process is largely dependent upon confidence-building measures, 4 TURKEY PEACE ASSEMBLY an open and timed road map, the transition from a war-oriented to a peace-oriented language, the active engagement of the civil society and the “third party” 1 or parties, hence the socialization of peace. The transition from war to peace, or the solution of problems by democratic and peaceful means instead of military modus operandi also implies a transformation from the old to the new. The novel arrangements and democratization concerning the new era can be considered the sine qua non2 of peace. As evidenced in examples from the world at large, the consolidation of peace can produce fast and dynamic democrati- zation. Before examining the state of the interrupted Peace Process in Turkey it is important to look at its background. Background of the Kurdish Issue THE PERIOD FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC TO THE 1980 MILITARY COUP 29.1 The 1921 Constitution, establishing national sovereignty of the people of Turkey did not impose an ethnic identity on its citizens, and implicitly gave the Kurds some degree of autonomy. Also, the state was named the State of Turkey, and the people here referred to as the People of Turkey, rather than the Turkish State, and Turkish People, found to be significant by some constitutional law and political science profes- sors3 It was, however, replaced by the 1924 Constitution after the foundation of the Republic (1923), which identified citizenship with being Turkish and rejected regional governance. In this respect, the modification in the 1924 Constitution would be instrumental in creating the constitutional basis for an ethnically homo- geneous society and denying the presence of Kurds within its boundaries. The policy of Turkification starting before the establishment of the Republic was instrumental in enforced displacement and enforced relocation during the Republican era, and implementing the ban on speaking Kurdish in public and Kurdish publications at large, the forbidding and altering of Kurdish names and last names of individuals, of villages and other place names as well. There were 21 Kurdish insurgencies in be- tween the establishment of the Republic and the Dersim Massacres of 1937, 1938.4
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