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The European Union and the Kurds in Turkey

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The European Union and the Kurdish Issue

Part of the book series: United Nations University Series on Regionalism ((UNSR,volume 23))

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Abstract

This chapter presented an extensive analysis of the EU’s actorness in the Kurdish issue in Turkey. The chapter started by examining whether and how the EU has, as an actor, identified, formulated and represented common interests in relation to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. Moreover, the chapter included an assessment of the EU’s acceptance by Turkey, one of the two primary stakeholders. Finally, the analysis includes an assessment of the EU’s performance and assessed the broader impact of the EU’s actorness in the Kurdish issue in Turkey. Shaped by the Copenhagen criteria, the EU’s approach to the Kurdish issue in Turkey has been one of the cases in which the EU has set and reinforced its image as a normative actor. While the EU and its member states have been calculative in their engagement with the Kurdish issue, the EU’s approach to this issue has remained largely normative, as reflected in a rhetoric consisting of calls for democratisation and respect for fundamental human rights and minority rights.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The ‘Copenhagen principles’, initially launched in 1990 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation (CSCE), required states to ensure full equality between minority groups and the majority (OSCE, 1990).

  2. 2.

    To further solidify the Copenhagen criteria, the EU has also required its members to sign the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, which were both adopted in 1993 by the Council of Europe, a non-EU European organisation.

  3. 3.

    The latest European Commission (EC) Turkey Report (2019, pp. 21–24) highlights Turkey’s backsliding on its commitments to EU charters of fundamental freedoms and rights and calls upon Turkey to revise its legislation.

  4. 4.

    The EC Turkey Report (2019) includes frequent references to European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and ECtHR cases. That being said, unlike the EP, the EC has been selective in its references to the ECtHR.

  5. 5.

    This is the most accurate estimate from 2016. Given that the Kurdish areas have a higher birth rate than other parts of Turkey, the percentage of the Kurdish population is expected to increase in the coming years.

  6. 6.

    The Sykes-Picot Agreement was signed between the UK and France in 1916 (more details in Chap. 3).

  7. 7.

    Since ethnicity is not tracked and recorded during the registration of migrants and refugees, there are no exact numbers of Kurds in Germany. There are rough estimates ranging between 500,000 to 1 million Kurds in Germany (Baser, 2012; Casier, 2010).

  8. 8.

    That being said, Germany took an active role in the international coalition against ISIS by providing military training, as well as effective weaponry to the Kurdish Peshmerga. This step constituted a historical departure from Germany’s otherwise peaceful contributions to international affairs, and, interestingly, this decision was taken in an EU context in August 2015.

  9. 9.

    While preparing the ‘Regular Report’, the European Commission makes use of the information presented by the Turkish Government, reports and decisions of the European Parliament, the evaluations of the European Council, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, international financial organisations, international organisations and non-governmental organisations. The first Regular Report on Turkey was published in 1998, followed by annual reports.

  10. 10.

    In the run–up to the European Parliament’s elections in 2014, candidates Jean-Claude Junker and Martin Schulz, who were competing to become the Head of the European Commission, both pledged that they would not allow Turkey to become an EU member under their presidency.

  11. 11.

    For extensive details and statistics, see Casier (2011, pp. 197–217).

  12. 12.

    Zana was imprisoned for taking her Turkish parliamentary oath in Kurdish. She was awarded the Sakharov Prize while she was in prison and could only collect it nearly 10 years later, on 19 November 2004.

  13. 13.

    There are no records of EC references to ECHR verdicts until 2001.

  14. 14.

    The data related to Kurdish participation has not been made public. Upon request, the EU Delegation to Turkey provided this data for book in May 2020.

  15. 15.

    Dutch Foreign Minister Blok expressed concern at the removal of the Kurdish mayors and described the move as a ‘significant blow to Turkey’s democracy’ (Ahval, 2019).

  16. 16.

    Turkey did not bow to EP pressure to release the Kurdish members of parliament in 1996, prior to signing a Customs Union agreement. At the time, Turkey’s political rulers perceived the cost of losing political independence higher than that of postponing the agreement.

  17. 17.

    The PKK is used as a generic name here, referring to the original armed group which has changed its name several times. As part of its reorientation to a non-violent strategy, in 2002, the PKK changed its name to KADEK. It has, however, maintained an armed wing called the People’s Defence Forces (HPG). In 2003, the group again changed its name to Kongra-Gel. For the sake of clarity, this book will continue to use the name ‘PKK’ unless otherwise required.

  18. 18.

    Action was brought on 31 July 2002 by Osman Öcalan on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Serif Vanly on behalf of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) against the Council of the European Union (The European Court of First Instance, 2005).

  19. 19.

    In a collection of prison writings, in 2005, Öcalan formed the concept of ‘democratic confederalism for Kurdistan’, based on Murray Bookchin’s book, The Ecology of Freedom. It calls for the creation of municipal assemblies as a democratic confederation of Kurdish communities beyond the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

  20. 20.

    The Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Fein played different but converging roles in the war of national liberation. The IRA waged an armed campaign, while Sinn Fein was the public and political voice of the movement (O’Brien, 1995, p. 128).

  21. 21.

    Examples include the Kurdish party HADEP, created in 1994, banned in 2003. The Democratic People’s Party (DEHAP) was then founded and later merged with Leyla Zana’s (DTS) to become The Democratic Society Party (DTP) in 2005. The constitutional court formally banned the DTP in 2009. However, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) was created in 2008 and led by the charismatic Selahattin Demirtaş and Gültan Kışanak. The party was reorganised in 2014 and continued as the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which took 13.1% of the electoral votes during the general election in Turkey in 2015 and became the third largest political party in the Turkish parliament.

  22. 22.

    Established in 2012, the HDP is a union between the Kurdish BDP and several left-wing political parties and movements in Turkey.

  23. 23.

    Selahattin Demirtaş has denied having an ‘organic relationship’ with the PKK. Source: www.haberturk.com on 22-04-2015, retrieved from Wikipedia on 24-09-2019.

  24. 24.

    Zubeyir Aydar and Remzi Kartal, who are believed to be the informal leaders of the Kurdish National Congress, are both former PKK members and have both faced prosecution from Turkish authorities.

  25. 25.

    For studies of Kurdish diaspora organisations and structures, see Van Bruinessen (2000, 2002).

  26. 26.

    Apart from the European Parliament, the HDP also focuses its lobbying on the Council of Europe, an organisation outside the EU (in Strasbourg) but which plays a vital role in monitoring.

  27. 27.

    During this visit, HDP leadership met with EP President Martin Schulz, EC Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy Hahn and EU High Representative Mogherini.

  28. 28.

    Erdogan’s party, AKP, and the HDP had a rapprochement following the 2015 national elections, and there was a prospect of the HDP joining the government.

  29. 29.

    At the time this chapter was written, in September 2019.

  30. 30.

    Since the Treaty of Sevrès in 1920, which allowed for Kurdish secession from Turkey and was backed by the Western victors of World War One, a constant fear and suspicion has persisted among the Turkish political and scholarly classes, which has been referred to as ‘Sevrès syndrome’. Turkey has traditionally treated any foreign attempts to settle the Kurdish issue as being in the legacy of Sevrès and thus, an effort to dismember Turkey (Tocci, 2005, p. 14).

  31. 31.

    The European Parliament adopted a resolution on freezing the negotiation talks with Turkey on 24 November 2016, following serious accusations of Turkey breaching the rule of law.

  32. 32.

    As a result of the deal, illegal migrant crossing fell 97%, from an average of 10,000 people a day, in the pre-agreement period, to only 80 people a day on average in April 2018.

  33. 33.

    Under the so-called National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis, the Turkish Parliament enacted 89 laws and amended 84 others, a significant number of which were human rights reforms necessary to meet EU standards.

  34. 34.

    The principal objective of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for a long time was the establishment of an independent Kurdistan. From the 1990s onward, the PKK and its leader gradually shifted their strategic narrative to fight for a ‘peaceful solution’ for the Kurds in Turkey, based on diversity and local democratic governance, a similar narrative to that which the EU was constructed upon.

  35. 35.

    In Baser (2012, p. 35).

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    Zana A. Kurda

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Kurda, Z.A. (2022). The European Union and the Kurds in Turkey. In: The European Union and the Kurdish Issue. United Nations University Series on Regionalism, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05186-9_4

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