MERSIN – Human Rights Association (IHD) Mersin Branch co-chair Gazi Inci stated that the state’s inaction stems from its insistence on a security-focused mindset. “The obstacle to citizenship status is not the organization, but the state itself,” he said. 

 

While the Kurdish Freedom Movement fulfills its responsibilities regarding the process, the state’s delaying tactics, failure to take steps, and the lack of improvement in the working conditions of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan—considered the chief negotiator—do not meet societal expectations regarding the process. The absence of political and legal regulations, essential for institutionalizing peace, increases distrust in the state’s commitment, while making fundamental human rights such as the Right to Hope a subject of debate questions the state’s “sincerity” toward the process.

 

Gazi Inci shared his assessments on why the process has not progressed due to the state and what needs to be done.

 

CONFRONTING THE PAST

 

Inci emphasized that the Kurdish issue is much deeper that the current “process” discussions and that a solution is impossible without the state confronting historical truths. “We are talking about the 100 year Republican process related to designing the Kurds” he said also added first design efforts started at the Ottoman Empire time era.

 

He stated that this design effort turned into a serious official ideology and between 1920 and the 1940s, policies of destruction and denial were implemented against Kurds. Inci said: “The greatest massacres were the Dersim Massacre, Zilan Valley Massacre, the Takrir-i Sükun Laws, and the Eastern Reform Plans. Afterwards, from the 1940s to the 1970s, a period of silence began. In the 1970s, with the emergence of the PKK, a conflict-driven period began. By the 2000s, resolution attempts started, but because the state treated the issue as if it began with the organization, true confrontation did not occur. What we call integration is unity, and the obstacle to citizenship was not the organization but the state itself; it was a 100-year issue.”

 

THE STATE’S SECURITY-FOCUSED APPROACH

 

Inci argued that the main reason for the state’s failure to act is its insistence on a security-driven mindset. He criticized that despite the public and political actors call for confrontation, the state maintains security-focused policies. 

 

Inci said: “These policies criminalize individuals. This is not only in relation to Abdullah Öcalan but in all Kurdish demands for rights. The delay in the state taking steps stems from this security-oriented approach. True integration can only begin by confronting the origins of the issue. At some point, the political approach turns into bargaining politics, but fundamental rights are non-negotiable.”

 

He also said opposition media frames the issue with a criminalized language and said it has to end. 

 

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM AND DEMOCRATIC INTEGRATION

 

Pointing out Turkey’s exceptional position regarding European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings, Inci stated that a solution is only possible through constitutional reform and a deep confrontation with the past. 

 

"Even discussing the Right to Hope is absurd. Knowing that a person will never be released in their lifetime is torture. Nearly 20 ECHR rulings concern Turkey, four of which are directly related to the Kurdish issue, yet this right is not recognized in Turkey,” said Inci and added: “The nationalist state approach has gained strength in recent years. Democratic integration is only possible by dismantling nationalist logic. Constitutional reform is essential. Truth and justice commissions must be established, and 100–150 years of denial and destruction policies must be confronted. Cultural autonomy, education in the mother tongue, strengthening local governments, and recognition of cultural diversity without criminalization are all developments that will fully establish this process."