No solution with nation-state: BDP

DİYARBAKIR - Anatolia News Agency

Democratic autonomy is a model that curbs the state, says Demirtaş.

Building new nation-states provides no solutions for either Turks or Kurds, Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-leader of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), said via the microblogging site Twitter yesterday.

“It does not change the situation whether the Kurds or the Turks control the instrument called the state. The instrument itself is based on repression. For that reason, what matters is not the state but democracy,” Demirtaş said.

Democratic autonomy is an administrative model that curbs the state and provides an opportunity for social democracy to grow, he said, adding that in its present form, the Turkish state could offer nothing but repression and cruelty to both Turks and Kurds.

“Viewing the nation-state as a solution is akin to trying to drink a glass of water while drowning at the bottom of a pool. What you really need is oxygen, not water. You have to get out of the pool and breathe,” he said.

Demirtaş called for curbs on the nation-state and the promotion of social freedom instead.
“The demand for a state is no more progressive than the demand for an established democracy,” he said.