A Letter to President of Democratic Society Party

Kurdish National Congress of North America

P.O. Box 90823, Nashville, TN 37209-USA

www.kncna.org

Mr. Ahmet Turk, President

Democratic Society Party

Diyarbakir, Turkey

April 20, 2009

Honorable President Turk:

On behalf of the Kurdish National Congress of North America, we congratulate you on the DTP's milestone victory in the recent municipal election.  This victory was a clear mandate on resurrecting Kurdish identity under Turkish rule.  It also shows the momentum gained as a result of the wise policies of the Kurdish leadership of the DTP. 

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The Kurdish endeavor in North of Kurdistan needs be consolidated through the DTP’s wise leadership, and it may be even more effective if coordinated with efforts of European and US governments and NGOs to convince Turkey to practice genuine democracy which is based on equal human rights and democratic principles. Turkish authorities should be induced to come to terms with the reality in which they live, a reality that mirrors their multi-ethnic society. We commend the efforts of the DTP, through various peaceful means, to remind Turkey that in order to improve its standing in the international arena it must distance itself from its practice of characterizing “Turkish” society as homogenized monosocial political entity, and that instead it should recognize the cultural and political rights of more 20 million Kurds and other ethnic groups.

Our people in all parts of Kurdistan have tried all kinds of philosophies such as Marxism, Leninism, Maoism and other leftist ideologies.  Perhaps our people should turn the page to a philosophy that so far has not been practiced in our national movement – the non violent civil disobedience of Mahatma Gandhi – a practice that has helped others to gain their rights, such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.  This movement has become a model of peaceful and powerful political change.  Right now, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey are occupiers of our land; however in the best case scenario of us achieving our national rights, they will be our neighbors.  So to have tranquility in our society, we have to be at peace with our neighbors.  Therefore, we as people of Kurdistan must continue to approach these regimes, particularly Turkey, through a persistent civil disobedience moment. 

This recent victory won by the DTP tells us that there is more opportunity for mobilizing our people in North of Kurdistan in effective peaceful civil disobedience.  However, to organize such a mass movement, we encourage the DTP to develop a strategy of sporadic civil disobedience in Northern Kurdistan into a unified and sustained program of civil disobedience.  It may be the only way to force the government to change its inherently racist Constitution and to overcome the obdurate attitude of the Turkish government toward the Kurds.

Mobilizing civil disobedience is a huge task, but your wise and practical approach has shown that your leadership is capable of inspiring action with significant political success such as the moment when you took the floor of the Turkey’s parliament and spoke in our sweet mother tongue.

There are hundreds of thousands of Kurds in diaspora and the greater majority of them do not see these artificial borders that partition our beloved Kurdistan.  As a part of this group in diaspora, the KNC wants to support you in your endeavors.  Let us know of any way in which we can help.

Sincerely yours,

Kirmanj Gundi

President