One faction in Turkey’s military and political hierarchy has been of late
behaving much like the neighborhood bully who believes that through sheer
bullying he can get his way. But more often than not bullies are in for a nasty
surprise.
This is so because bullying is a sign of insecurity and anxiety, not of
bravery. Bravery means, among other things, being fair to your opponent, whereas
bullying means viewing your opponent according to the wishes of your
imagination.
And this is exactly the case with our Turkish bully. It never gets tired of
belligerent rhetoric. It always demonizes its opponent. It uses its enormous
power to manufacture national consent about its enemy. It views any effort at
subjecting its views to debate as treason. And it clothes its bullying in the
lofty language of national security, which is often a euphemism for aggression
against the defenseless.
And the defenseless in this case are the mountain dwellers of Southern
Kurdistan. Our Turkish bully has chosen to shell them, because, like all
bullies, this one too specializes in going after the weak.
Our Turkish bully calls its aggression a legitimate fight against so-called
PKK terrorism--a term which we couldn’t do worse than taking it at face value,
for this is an ideologically constructed term, and though not a good one (It
unravels the moment you place it under scrutiny), it is designed to accomplish
several things: shut down debate, hide the real issue, make everyone tow the
official line, demonize “the enemy,” and justify war. But this approach has so
far backfired very badly on our bully: our bully has now become a prisoner of
its own shady term. What’s worrisome, though, is that our bully is now trying to
drag the whole nation into this prison as well.
For our bully the real issue is much bigger than a few isolated acts of
violence. Our bully is at war, and it is at war (and has been for years) against
the Kurdish people, against the Kurdish language, against the Kurdish culture,
against the Kurdish history, against the Kurdish flag, against the Kurdish
national anthem, against Kirkuk returning into the Kurdish fold. Our bully
cannot even bring itself to utter the word Kurdistan.
But, as our bully is also well aware, its wishes have zero chance of becoming
a reality. It doesn’t dare to enter a single Kurdish city. It knows that the
people of Kurdistan are no strangers to fighting when attacked. Bombing innocent
and unarmed villagers may provide a temporary satisfaction, but in the end our
bully will have nothing to show for except the usual bland of bellicose rhetoric
and more bullying. Meanwhile, Kurdistan continues to gain politically and
economically. If only our bully can muster enough moral courage to liberate
itself from this stupid phrase and starts treating the Kurds the way it wants
the Turks to be treated, Turks and Kurds can easily find ways to work together,
not against each other. Demonization only breeds more demonization.
Dr. Sabah Salih is professor of English at Bloomsburg University.
