Two names on the HDP confidence list
Who does the Kurdish side, Abdullah Öcalan and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), trust the most in the “resolution” talks? The answer is Hakan Fidan, the Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), who is said to monitor even the Kurds’ breathing. The Kurdish side regards Fidan as the most insistent, best follower and most reasonable person in the resolution process.
The second person who has built confidence in the HDP is Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan. He is seen as a person who will listen to any suggestion and even if he opposes it at the beginning, may accept it if it is explained logically to him.
Unfortunately, on the list of the HDP’s most trusted persons, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is not present. According to the HDP, Davutoğlu will often contradict himself on certain important issues.
There are also cases when he will accept something, but then not do it. As a matter of fact, the last stage of the resolution belongs to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He is at the top of the list but because of his position, Davutoğlu is important.
There are also certain bureaucrats who have solved practical issues from behind closed doors on the HDP’s list of trusted persons.
The reason for the HDP’s distanced stance is something that Davutoğlu frequently refers to: the public order.
The HDP regards the building of more than 200 police/gendarmerie stations in the southeast as a “heavy blow to the resolution.” The party believes any disruption in the public order is because of these new stations. The prevalent view is “public order seems to be a weapon again.” It is one of these concepts that create the largest tension for the Kurdish side, “the public order.”
While the talks are ongoing, the fact that Davutoğlu criticizes the HDP harshly at every opportunity is another reason for the HDP’s distrust of him. The latest example is his showdown with co-leader of the HDP Selahattin Demirtaş.
What is seen most often by the public eye is the traffic between the government, the HDP, Öcalan and Kandil, where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is based. However, traffic may also be flowing through secret avenues. There is an opinion that the government talks to Öcalan frequently through the MİT. These talks, many believe, have been held in the past and are still being held today.
From the HDP’s perspective, the two indispensable figures are Akdoğan and Fidan.
Guardians of secularism: PKK and YPG
New heroes are being shown on Western media channels. Praise for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is increasing. Interviews are conducted with female fighters in rural and mountainous areas; they say they have joined the war voluntarily because Kobane was invaded and after the war they will go back to production and education.
The YPG and the PKK are beginning to no longer look like terrorist organizations in the eyes of the West. The war they are fighting against ISIL, which wants to form an Islamic state, makes these two terrorist organizations look good to the West. The West has been defining them as separatists from the beginning, anyway. Today, the PKK and YPG are the guardians of secularism in the Middle East.
While we are engaged in “the nature of women, Christopher Columbus, Ottoman language, compulsory religion classes, and mosques being built everywhere” issues, while the Republic of Turkey is just standing there, while the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government loses confidence, somehow unsurprisingly the PKK and YPG have become the guardians of secularism.
Well, we have come a long way. Look where we have landed after so many decades.
