Turkey’s constitutional court banned the country’s only pro-Kurdish party on December 11. Likely to result in an increased number of ethnic conflicts across the country, the decision is both typical and paradoxical.
The Kurdish Closing
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Turkey
Turkey: Uniter or Divider
Turkey wants to rotate onto the Security Council after a nearly 50-year absence. The Turkish leadership has claimed that the country can serve as a bridge across a growing gap between the West and the Islamic world. Although it has made great strides over the last decade to strengthen its credentials as a mediator, Turkey still faces divisive problems with its minority populations at home and its neighbors abroad. Nevertheless, Security Council membership may prompt Turkey to live up to its declared standards and move to resolve outstanding issues with Greece, Armenia and ethnic and religious minorities domestically.
Postcard from…Nicosia
Vasil Kadrinov
Vasil Kadrinov. Photo Don Russell.
Attila Durak
For almost 100 years, the system here has been trying to create a nation, one nation that represses, that says we are one Turkey. For the Ottoman Empire, religion was the base; ethnicity was not important. When Italy was formed, only eight percent of Italian people spoke Italian. From that base population, they created Italy. It was the same story with France. So Turkey, too, tried to create a nation of Turks. They say we are a mosaic. That means different colors, but they’re not touching because there is cement in between. The Turkish culture is very old, going back 10,000 years. All this time there has been a mixing of cultures. So this metaphor is wrong. It doesn’t define the Anatolian land. A better metaphor is ebru. We invented this art, of colors swirling on paper. The fluidity of this metaphor better explains us. It is the metaphor with which we can start to talk.
Serdar M. Degirmencioglu
Valentine Mitiev
Valentine Mitiev. Photo by Don Russell.
Ertugrul Kurksu
Nigar Goksal
