Didim Today

The withdrawal of support by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) from the government’s democratic initiative, which aims to resolve Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish problem, and the increasing number of street protests by DTP supporters who object to the prison conditions of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, have raised eyebrows, as many are questioning whether this is a move by the DTP to have itself closed down.

The Constitutional Court will today hear a closure case filed against the DTP over charges of being a focal point of “separatist” activities; many warn that no matter how provocatively the party behaves, it should not be closed down because such a move does not befit a democracy and will also seriously undermine the efforts to solve the Kurdish problem peacefully.

Star’s Mustafa Karaalioglu is strongly opposed to the closure of the DTP as he says there is much evidence of the damage the party’s closure will do to Turkey.

Putting aside the harm it will cause to the Kurdish initiative, he says the DTP should not be closed just for the sake of this being a country where political parties can be closed down by courts.

He also suggests that closing down a party like the DTP, whose party organization changes very quickly in normal circumstances, will not be a practical move as members will rapidly regroup under the umbrella of a new party.

Although Karaalioglu thinks the members of the DTP are not as concerned about the prospects of closure as the democratic circles in this country are, he still thinks the party should not be closed down.

Regarding the DTP’s violent reaction to Öcalan’s prison conditions and withdrawing its support from the Kurdish initiative, he says the DTP’s attitude shows that it cares more about Öcalan’s prison conditions than it does Turkey’s hope for peace and a historic opportunity for Kurds to improve their lives.

Despite this he calls for common sense and opposes the DTP’s closure, saying that the solution of the Kurdish problem does not lie in the hypocritical politics of the DTP and the PKK, but in Turkey as a whole. According to Vatan’s Okay Gönensin, if the DTP is closed down, this will mean Turkey will regress by a decade; he calls for reason and common sense to overcome what he calls the trap of DTP closure.

“The fire that will result from this trap will burn everyone, the entire Turkish public, and it will mean a return to an environment of pain and fear.” In his view, demanding the closure of the DTP in view of such a threat is no different to betraying the country.

Yeni Safak`s Kürsat Bumin warns that the closure of the DTP will block the progress of the Kurdish initiative because it will not be possible for the government to discuss the country’s biggest problem, which is in need of an urgent solution, with a party that has been shut down.

Seeing the DTP as the legitimate representative of the Kurds in Parliament, Bumin says the party’s existence is crucial to the progress of the peace process.

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