Türkiye'nin Kürt Meselesi

by Graham E. Fuller, Henri J. Barkey

“Türkiye’nin geleceği açısından hayati öneme sahip bir soruna ilişkin belgelere dayalı kapsamlı ve cesur bir çalışma. Kalıcı bir çözüme dair seçenekler sunuyor.”

-Eric Rouleau, Fransa’nın eski Türkiye Büyükelçisi

Graham E. Fuller ve Henri J. Barkey, “Siz olsaydınız, ne yapardınız?” sorusuna cevap arıyorlar. Tam bir saha çalışması olan “Türkiye’nin Kürt Meselesi” herkesin okuması gereken çarpıcı bir çalışma.

Dünyada iç çatışmalar yaşayan, incelenmeyi hak eden çok sayıda başka ülke vardır. Türkiye’nin özel olarak ilgi çekmesinin nedeni, yaşadığı iç çatışmanın dünyanın diğer bölgelerindeki çatışma durumlarını yansıtan genel özelliklere sahip olmasıdır…

Batı’nın yakın bir müttefiki ile dünyada kendi devleti olmayan en büyük etnik grubu içeren bu sorun gelip Batı’nın eşiğine dayanmıştır. Bu sorun Türkiye’nin mevcut sınırları içerisinde çözülebilir mi? Bu krizin sonucu, dünyanın geri kalan kısmının büyük çoğunluğu açısından önemli anlamlar taşıyacaktır…

Ayrıca hemen herkes aşağıdaki sorulara cevap aramaktadır:

• Türkiye’deki Kürt çatışmasının kaynağı nedir?

• Türkiye’de Kürtleri kapsayan çatışmanın şu anki içeriği nedir?

• Türkiye’deki Kürtler ne istiyorlar?

• Kürtlerin özlemlerinin Türk devletinin önüne koyduğu sorunlar nelerdir?

• Türkiye’deki Kürtlerin talepleri ülkenin toprak bütünlüğü korunarak nasıl karşılanabilir?

Genres: Politics, History

328 pages, Paperback

First published April 9, 1998

About the author

Graham Fuller is an author and a political analyst. He has worked for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the National Intelligence Council, and Rand Corporation.

Reviews

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

i respect Fuller and Pipes
but i may not agree with them fully

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Turkey's Kurdish Question.

In the heat of the United Nations debate in 1948 surrounding the decision to create a Jewish state, Warren Austin, the American ambassador, vented his frustration by calling on Arabs and Jews to "settle this problem in a true Christian spirit." Fifty years later, his appeal is still laughingly remembered.

Barkey and Fuller, two specialists on Turkey, write nothing so silly in their attempt to find ways for Turks and Kurds to make peace, but their recommendations do have a comparably provincial quality: basically, they want those two peoples to solve their problem in what might be called "a true American spirit."

That is, after a spirited survey of the Kurdish issue, they offer a host of recommendations, every one of which is reasonable, desirable, sensible-and ineffably American. Recognize the Kurdish language, they say, end government propagandizing, give up attempts to establish a unitary ethnic polity, redress economic ills, reduce the security presence, legalize the Kurdish political parties, withdraw the military from politics, permit greater freedom of expression, decentralize the government, and experiment with federalism.

Even so, the authors do not guarantee these demanding steps will do the trick, conceding only that they offer a possibility for the present Turkish state to remain intact. But Barkey and Fuller probably overestimate the chances of Americanizing Turkish politics, just as they underestimate the staying power of the Turkish Republic.

The region's states (like Lebanon and Iraq) may be held together with string and sealing wax, but they do seem to survive, at no matter what the cost. Even without fulfilling our authors' recommendations, today's Turkey seems likely to remain whole.

Daniel Pipes

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book frankly addresses the questions related to the Kurdish question in Turkey. It is great that it is not simply called the Kurdish problem as so many authors do. This is a unbiased source that holds the Kurds as terrorists when their actions are such and refugees when the excess of the Turkish government take hold. The analysis of how Kurds have integrated into political parties was of particular interest and there is a nice section on how religion affects Kurdish roles which I found particularly interesting. The solutions to the question are put forth in a straightforward and logical manner. The most pressing solution is that this is an ethnic problem and requires an ethnic solution resulting in a multiethnic state which Turkey wishes to resist. The authors make the point that the Kurds do not have an agenda for a separate state and most don't consider that a realistic goal anyway. Overall this is an essential book to read to understand the Kurdish question.

[Fatih Talu · Rating 4 out of 5]

CIA Türkiye masası eski şefi Graham Fuller'den okunması gereken bir çalışma...