Turkey’s suppression of the Kurdish political movement continues to fuel a deadly armed conflict
The world has 91 democracies and 88 autocracies. Yet 71% of the world’s population (some 5.7 billion people) are living under autocratic rule, a big jump from 48% ten years ago.
This trend towards authoritarianism can clearly be seen in Turkey. Since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took office in 2003, he has gradually centralised power by systematically suppressing any political opposition. This has involved controlling the media, limiting civil liberties and interfering with the judiciary.
However, recent local election results signalled a significant shift in the political landscape. Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party was handed its biggest defeat in over two decades. The main opposition group, the Republican People’s Party, not only retained control of Istanbul and Ankara but also won 37.7% of the vote – its highest share since 1977.
The elections were particularly important for the Kurdish opposition. The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey, making up around 18% of the population. But, since 2016, democratically elected mayors in Kurdish-majority areas have repeatedly been replaced by government-appointed officials.
The first sign that the regime would look to continue this policy came only two days after the elections. In the eastern city of Van, the government tried to prevent Abdullah Zeydan of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party from becoming mayor despite winning a clear majority.
The move sparked large protests in cities across Turkey’s south-east. And a few days later Turkey’s supreme election council overturned the decision and granted Zeydan the mayoral mandate.
The decision to reinstate Zeydan may look like a retreat from authoritarianism. But the entrenched political logic driving the systematic suppression of the Kurdish political movement in Turkey continues to be a fundamental element driving the Kurdish conflict.
Since the 1980s, Turkey has been engaged in a conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an insurgent group fighting for greater Kurdish rights. The fighting, which has occurred primarily in south-eastern Turkey but has spilled over into northern Iraq and Syria, has resulted in over 40,000 deaths. Following the collapse of the latest peace process in July 2015, violent clashes have led to at least 6,939 further fatalities.
Suppression of Kurds
Kurds are often denied equal access to political representation, economic resources and cultural freedoms compared to the majority Turkish population. One of the clearest examples of their political marginalisation is the closure of Kurdish political parties. Since 1990, five Kurdish parties have been closed by court orders in Turkey.
This strategy has perpetuated the conflict instead of fostering dialogue for a political solution. In many ways, this approach mirrors the initial British strategy in Northern Ireland where criminalising and excluding Sinn Féin from peace negotiations only prolonged the Troubles.
Read more: How Israel failed to learn from the Northern Ireland peace process
The closure of political parties in Turkey often coincides with the criminalisation of Kurdish political leaders. A prime example is Selahattin Demirtaş, a former presidential candidate who gained seats in the 2015 elections and denied Erdoğan’s party a parliamentary majority for the first time since 2002.
However, Demirtaş was detained on terrorism charges in November 2016 and since then has been held in a high-security prison near the Greek border. He remains in jail despite two definitive rulings from the European Court of Human Rights calling for his immediate release. The court has stated that his ongoing detention is politically motivated.
In May 2023, Erdoğan stated that Demirtaş would not be released under his governance, labelling him a “terrorist”. Aside from expressly disregarding judicial independence, this statement exposes the political motives behind Demirtaş’s detention.
The repression of Kurds extends into everyday politics. Kurdish human rights defenders and political activists advocating for basic rights and freedoms are frequently targeted and prosecuted.
In January 2016, over 2,000 academics from Turkey and abroad signed a petition calling for peace in Kurdish regions. The petition received support from prominent figures like American professor Noam Chomsky and philosopher Judith Butler. However, many of the signatories within Turkey were dismissed and prosecuted. Some were even imprisoned.
The future of democracy in Turkey
Turkish citizens are currently limited to a form of democracy that is primarily confined to voting. This limitation curtails opportunities for genuine democratic deliberation and engagement on critical societal issues such as income inequality, corruption and, most notably, the Kurdish conflict.
Unsurprisingly, Turkey’s approach to the Kurdish conflict offers little room for a democratic resolution. This strategy mimics ultimately unsuccessful historical examples like Colombia’s use of military force against the Farc, the country’s Marxist rebel movement.
Military offensives, aerial bombardments and counterinsurgency measures successfully weakened the Farc’s military strength. But this approach consistently failed to achieve lasting peace and hindered democratic progress in Colombia. It was only in 2016, after 52 years of conflict with the Colombian state, that the Farc made peace with the government.
Turkey must decide whether to learn from these past mistakes and forge a new path or continue with its ineffective strategies. The Kurdish conflict will only be resolved through dialogue and compromise, which will include the broader public participation of Kurds in political processes.
In the words of Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Recep Onursal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.