Re: Time for Kurdistan?
I would like to exercise our right to respond to the claims and insults regarding Turkey and our founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the said column. This rejoinder is therefore to set the record right and to inform your respectable readers better.It was implied that Turkey signed the Lausanne Treaty with Britain and France […]
I would like to exercise our right to respond to the claims and insults regarding Turkey and our founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the said column. This rejoinder is therefore to set the record right and to inform your respectable readers better.
It was implied that Turkey signed the Lausanne Treaty with Britain and France to suppress a so-called Kurdish State within the territories of the Republic of Turkey and Iraq.
The issue of the so-called Kurdish state was presented as almost the centrepiece of such an important Treaty.
Let me inform you that the Lausanne Treaty symbolizes the re-birth of the Turkish Nation at the end of the Independence War of our Nation led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which also enlightened other nations in different parts of the world, including Africa, that victory against colonialism was possible.
After establishment, the Republic of Turkey showed that peace, cooperation and good neighbourhood relations with all parties, including former adversaries is possible. The proverb of Atatürk “Peace at Home, Peace in the World” has been the motto of the Turkish foreign policy since then.
After a process of democratization, Turkey offered modern rights and liberties to all of her citizens, regardless of sect, ethnic background and religion.
Kurds living in Turkey immensely contributed to the Independence War and establishment of the Republic of Turkey. Today, Kurds are living as equal citizens with full rights and obligations in Turkey. Further cultural and individual rights have been offered to our citizens of Kurdish descent during the previous years, which have enabled our country to carry out a comprehensive process to stop violence of the PKK terror.
Contrary to the claims in the said column, Turkey had a problem of terror related to the PKK, which is responsible for the killing of more than 35.000 people and destruction of public service structures, such as schools.
The column unfortunately claims that Atatürk brought “almost psychotic, self-hating secularization” to the Turkish Nation. The mobilization of our Nation for the Independence War and subsequent establishment our modern Republic could only be possible due to the strong and inclusive leadership of Atatürk and his brothers in arms. It is a contrary testament that millions of Turks followed them even after the exhausting decades of wars in the Balkans, Northern Africa, Middle East, prior and during the World War I, as his style was to inject self-confidence and self-respect to a nation.
Turkey has always been in favour of protection and observation of human rights including the right to live. Through this perspective, we have welcomed millions of refugees from Iraq, Syria and other countries, including Kurds regardless of their ethnic background, religion etc.
If Turkey had been “anti-Kurdish” as your columnist suggests, Turkey would not have accepted hundreds thousands of Iraqis and Syrians of Kurdish descent refugees during the previous decades and today.
Territorial integrity and non-interference in domestic affairs are essential pillars of preserving international order and harmony. They are important for all members of the international community and respectable international and local press should be incognizant of them in their reporting.
I must also add that the said column may be unintentionally reflecting some of the claims of PKK, which has been recognized as a terrorist organization by the international community and the United Nations. I hope that Turkish history could be better studied, analyzed and reflected in your newspaper in the future.
Final word: Sèvres Agreement, a product of its times is dead and buried for Turkey.
Pulat is the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria.