Kurdish MP: We Condemn Violence, Yet It Isn't Valued

Gültan Kisanak, MP for the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Diyarbakir, said: "There is no end to violence, it is like a well without a bottom. It is not valid anymore to say that only governments can apply violence; if you legitimise policies of violence, then everyone, small or big, uses violence. We have been struggling for a year, saying that this road should not be taken..."

Following the bomb attack in Diyarbakir and recent controversy over the DTP, Kisanak answered bianet's questions.

Is the DTP going to found a commission to investigate the bombing?

As a party, we have not planned to form a commission at this stage.

Why not?

In order to investigate these kinds of events properly in this country, democracy is needed. When we MPs went to Diyarbakir, we could not get proper information on the event from the city's officials. So if we founded a commission, what could we achieve realistically? We think that first of all that this country has to go beyond the criminal or police dimensions of the case and step away from violence. Look at what has happened in this country in the last year, the country's mentality and the criminal events that have emerged...The Law on Police Duties and Authorities was passed, security forces are not prosecuted seriously, people are being shot for not obeying the order to stop...

You say that this is the inevitable result of government policies...

The case for the Kurdish issue is the same. If you spread the mentality of "hitting, breaking, and using more planes" among the people, then there will be a parallel development of criminal events. I don't want to say "This would not have happened if there were no war politics", but we cannot ignore this reality.

Today (8 January) Prime Minister Erdogan referred to the DTP in a group meeting in parliament, saying, "If the PKK is a political organisation, why do we need you?"

After the attack on the police station, it was us who showed our most humane feelings first, condemned the event and said that this society needed to be pulled back from violent approaches. But the Justice and Development Party (AKP) wants something else from us. They think that a front has been established in this country. It sees itself, the EU, the USA and all other parts of society on one side, and us and other powers it has defined on another front. Of course we do not want to be approached with this front mentality. They want to use us in order to isolate the PKK. This is what we find wrong.
This Kurdish question is not a problem of security. However, the AKP is saying: "There is a PKK problem. If everyone sides against the PKK, the issue will be solved." After years of policies of destruction and denial, you have not developed any new policy. This is not a  skill. If you carry out the 29th operation today, tomorrow the 30th will have to come. The Kurdish question has to be solved.

Those who do not take part in creating fronts and who seek a democratic solution to the Kurdish question want to hear more from you that "We condemn violence on all sides."

This criticism would be valid if we did not offer solutions to the Kurdish question or did not publicly oppose violence. But we always express our reactions.

How do you interpret the articles on the bombing published on the Internet website of the HPG [Hezen Parasitna Gel, the People's Defense Forces]?

We were not concerned with anyone else's reactions when we condemned the violence. This is not valued. Are we going to do politics always with an eye on what others are saying? If there are people in this country who want to work towards a solution, they should appreciate this approach. We are interested in whether the events are violations of human rights. That is important in itself. We went to Diyarbakir and shared the pain of our people. (NZ/TK/AG)