Why did they name the airport built in the southeastern Turkish district of Yüksekova Selahaddin Eyyubi? Why is Islamic discourse put forward in such a dominant manner against the Ba'athist discourse of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)? Why is there an attempt to develop political discourse over the use of common identity and a common history rather than the wave of ethnic nationalism?
What does the language which claims “No, Jerusalem belongs to all of us; it belongs to Selahaddin" against a political cadre which says “Jerusalem belongs to the Jews," mean for Turkey, the region and especially the Kurds?
Turkey has been through a major political transformation which went from saying “Let the Ka'abe belong to the Arabs, Çankaya suffices for us" to “Jerusalem belongs to Muslims." As for the political cadres which try to lead the Kurds, they are just discovering the “Let the Ka'abe belong to the Arabs" discourse. They draw parallels between Istanbul's Taksim Square and the Ka'abe, and exhibit a level of conscious in line with the discourse of saying “Let the Ka'abe belong to the Arabs, Taksim suffices for us." What kind of a misfortune is this…?
Selahaddin is Kurdish. But he was not only Kurdish; he was also Turkish, Arab, and a symbol. He is the product and the common identity of the region. He represented the unity, solidarity, and the mobilization of the people for a common cause, against the city-states of the time. Jerusalem is everyone's common cause and it has been the pioneer of this cause along with the unified forces accompanying it.
Turkey has come forward as the only pioneer –country- of a brand new political discourse, and a common language in a period which coincides with the second greatest disintegration after World War I. Turkey has transformed itself, while countries around us were falling apart and disintegrating one by one and challenged all of this, redefined and re-positioned itself and unfurled a flag to not only the disintegration scenarios near abroad, but also to the architects of this scenario.
Turkey has succeeded in withstanding the ethnic conflicts of the 20th century and the conflict theses fixed on the ethnic identities of the 21st century, through the production of a new and powerful political mind. This discourse and the level of consciousness trigger major transforming waves from Northern Africa to India-Pakistan region. Turkey has become the nurturer of a great regional revolution and change and is exposed to extremely heavy attacks because of this.
In that sense, Turkey is now the common country and the common state.
It is not only a country hosting ethnic circles in Anatolia such as the Turks, Kurds, Circassians, but a central country where everyone can seek refuge and take power.
With this aspect, Turkey is Selahaddin himself.
Giving this name to Yüksekova airport is not an election investment or a hunt for votes. Its message goes well beyond the elections. Because the symbols and common heritage throughout the country are put forward rather than in Hakkari alone. A political transformation, a transformation of identity and a historical breakdown is taking place. Turkey is first transforming itself for this great transformation, followed by its surroundings and the region as a whole.
It was because of this reason that the common history was trivialized, underestimated and judged for years. They knew that today would come. While the political identity of the HDP was making fun of all these common values and trying to annihilate their effect, it shows that it was built against the great transformation led by Turkey, which will influence the region a step further.
Those who use the argument saying “the state is deceiving you again" and market this transformation as an election investment know very well that the aforementioned understanding of the state no longer exists. The state which deceived the Kurds throughout the history of the Republic has deceived everyone living in this country, and has seen them as a threat and has tried to assimilate them. To put those who try to transform that state mentality in the same category as the ones who led it, and trying to portray them as the same is perhaps the greatest operation of deception oriented towards the Kurds. In reality, they are being deceived now.
Those who present Kurdish Ba'athism against the ones who embraced them, supported them, considered them as brothers and sisters and initiated a new construction phase through common symbols and history, and those who present this primitive mindset as the only road for the future are the deceiving cadres of the past.
They intensified all of their strength on the Kurds as Turkey was transforming. The coup supporters of the past, the capital circles, power elites and the circles who reduced Turkey to tears are trying a scenario over the HDP this time. Hence, the reason why they all lined up behind it, make it fancy and market it. Is this because they love the Kurds so much? No, they are actually the only ones who hate the Kurds in this country, but it just so happens that they are the ones administering the political mind of the HDP.
Against whom? All of us. Against the country, the nation, the history, the future and the region. Against the identity of Selahaddin.
They try to stop this significant revolution through the use and exploitation of the Kurds. Doesn't the fact that the ones who prefer to fight against the resolution process with no hesitant side with the HDP bring anyone to their senses? Doesn't the fact that these bloody handed cadres leading the Kurds against the change of the century ring a bell for anyone?
Don't the attempts to construct an identity which contravenes the identity and soul of these lands through the use of discourse left from half-a-century or a century ago by serving an emotional understanding of nationalism bring us to our senses? Doesn't anybody realize that while a devoted struggle is taking place in Turkey for a common identity, that the mind which has transformed the HDP into a substitute party is trying to re-format it by using the sectarian identity?
Pay attention, the HDP will be the carrier of the new type of conflict in Turkey which has been served by using the sectarian identity which became prominent and tore countries apart. Will the new danger discovered for the geography be served over these cadres in Turkey? HDP will now come to the forefront in this regard, rather than being an ethnic party.
If those who took risks for the resolution process will be left alone, while those who waged a war against the resolution process walk shoulder to shoulder with the HDP, this will be a serious disloyalty. Beyond disloyalty, we will all see what types of pains such a plan would result in, in the future.
The oligarchs of the old Turkey and the dark power domains try to take the Kurdish electorate as hostage, re-build the HDP and deploy it at the front against the great transformation of Turkey. It pulls the ones who want change the most and the ones that are the most necessary, into a historical trap. However, this transformation is the struggle of all of us. If we cannot stand shoulder to shoulder and transform the country, we will all get hurt. Perhaps we will go back to the old Turkey in a few years. At that point, we will give in to endless conflicts and make an Iraq out of Turkey.
This is what the project is about. But Turkey will complete this transformation and continue to challenge. Let it get new enemies. It will know how to win this new War of Independence. This is the struggle of those who know the identity of Selahaddin. This address suffices for us. Those seeking a different address can give Jerusalem to the Jews and the Ka'abe to the Arabs. They will be recorded in the pages of history as the losers of the great struggle for freedom which arrived after a century.
Yes, we are standing where Selahaddin was, where are you?
