For President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has failed to resolve it despite 19 years in power, this question has all the trap… It is even downright a taboo since his party is allied with the law…

In Turkey, the "Kurdish question" again in the public debate

Demonstration in support of HDP, in Istanbul, in Istanbul, Thursday March 18, 2021. AP - Emrah Gurel

Text by: Anne Andlauer

3 min

For President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has failed to resolve it despite 19 years in power, this question has all the trap… It is even downright a taboo since his party is allied with the ultranationalist right.

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From our correspondent in Istanbul

It was Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party - the CHP, which claims to be social democratic - who revived the debate.

There is in this country "

a Kurdish question that the political authority has not been able to resolve for 35-40 years

", declared Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, before raising THE point which crystallizes all the debates: "

With whom to discuss and resolve this Kurdish question?

Dividing the opposition, Erdogan's strategy

Kemal Kiliçdaroglu criticized the authorities for having tried to negotiate directly between 2012 and 2015 with the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party - therefore with an armed group classified as terrorist - when, according to him, only Parliament should host such debates. And, within Parliament, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu designated the pro-Kurdish party, the HDP, as a legitimate interlocutor. However, Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strategy for the 2023 elections consists of dividing the opposition by presenting the HDP as a party linked to terrorism.

It is also currently threatened with closure by the Constitutional Court.

This kind of statement can put Recep Tayyip Erdogan in difficulty for at least three reasons.

First, she shows that her strategy to divide the opposition does not really work.

Le Bon Parti, an ultranationalist opposition formation unlikely to be accused of pro-Kurdish sympathies, reacted by also emphasizing the legitimacy of the HDP within Parliament.

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To read: Turkey: the repression continues against the HDP, the main pro-Kurdish party

Then, it puts the Head of State in difficulty vis-à-vis his main ally since 2015-2016, the ultranationalist party MHP, for which it is out of the question to relaunch the debate.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan also ended up answering that there was "no Kurdish question" in Turkey.

Finally, by making such remarks, Recep Tayyip Erdogan discredits himself a little more within a large part of the Kurdish electorate, which will nevertheless play a key role in the next elections.

What place for the Kurds in Turkey?

This debate already sets the tone for the campaign which will precede the elections, supposed to be held in June 2023.

The Constitutional Court could rule in early 2022 - perhaps even before - on the ban of the HDP

. By affirming that there is "

no Kurdish question

", that it has already been resolved, Recep Tayyip Erdogan assimilates and reduces the Kurdish question to the fight against the PKK which has effectively been cornered in Turkey in recent years.

But what the HDP stands for, what the main opposition party (CHP) suggests and what many voters mean by "Kurdish question" is a much larger debate on place, rights and freedoms. Kurdish citizens in Turkey, who represent more or less 15% of the population.

And it is this debate that Recep Tayyip Erdogan no longer wants, can no longer hold.

►

Also to listen: Turkey: the Kurds, the other internal enemy of Recep Tayyip Erdogan

In Turkey, the "Kurdish question" again in the public debate

In Turkey, the "Kurdish question" again in the public debate

Dividing the opposition, Erdogan's strategy

What place for the Kurds in Turkey?

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