What is the CHP and MHP's suggestion to solve the Kurdish question?

As usual, prejudices are once again being voiced loudly. The main issue is the escalating terror incidents, in other words, the point the Kurdish question has reached. This issue has more than one actor and history. The incidents that have been happening since the June 7 elections, or rather since the start of the peace/reconciliation process have a chronology. Looking at this chronology, we understand that the PKK did not take the peace/reconciliation process seriously. It did not answer the calls to disarm and leave the country. It used the cease-fire period to build up weapons at certain points and set up bomb/mine traps here and there. It invested in war, not peace. Add to this the legitimacy of the PKK and its extensions in the eyes of the West, due to the developments in Syria and particularly the presence and intense violence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the increased support from the West, the PKK became spoiled; so to speak, it went wild.

Something else that was never before seen happened. The hostility of certain traditional anti-Kurdish neo-nationalists and Gülenists pushed them to become PKK sympathizers. Hence, the PKK received the greatest media support in its history. As the PKK continued to attack security forces and cause damage, these circles rejoiced as though it wasn't Turkey, but only Erdoğan being attacked. They want and hope for the PKK to create an atmosphere that will pave the way for pushing away the AK Party and Erdoğan from power, or do something that will contribute to this.

The state of those having this mentality and attitude will be discussed in detail in the future. In this piece, I want to express my desire to find out the general and sectorial solution suggestions opposition parties have regarding the Kurdish question – if any – based on a hypothetical situation. I am sure many other citizens also share the same thoughts. The hypothetical situation is: Let us say the AK Party and Erdoğan are the sole reasons – not one of the reasons, the sole reason – of the Kurdish question. Then let us say that Erdoğan and the AK Party disappeared into thin air. The Republican People's Party (CHP) or the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is in power alone. Or there is a CHP-MHP coalition government on duty. In such a situation, how will the said parties solve the Kurdish question?

Unfortunately, neither the CHP nor the MHP give information or a clue in either their party programs or in the statements of their party leaders or top figures. All they do is speak open endedly or express their calls for violence – more violence – which reflects their hissy fit.

I want to ask the CHP staff and its ideologists: Tell the people something about how you will solve this problem. Will you reach an agreement with the PKK or fight it? If you are going to reach an agreement, what is this going to be over? Will you recognize autonomy in the region and accept the PKK's political sovereignty? Will you withdraw security forces from the region and turn PKK militants into the police forces of the region? If you are going to fight, what would you do differently with the current practices? How are you going to make the security forces eliminate the PKK?

I also need to ask the MHP staff. You should also tell the people something about how you will solve the problem. Your rhetoric makes it clear that you oppose any means of negotiation, discussion or politics in advance and in total. Hence, fighting seems to be the only option remaining. OK, but despite fighting for three decades, no progress could be made. What will you do differently to achieve a permanent solution from that fight – whatever that may be? How will you prevent the war against the PKK from turning into a war against all Kurds? Since you will be taking war as the basis, will you be taking back all the progress made during the time of the AK Party government – like the restoration of location names, making it easier to change names, lifting the ban on speaking Kurdish during prison visits, allowing political propaganda in Kurdish, establishing Kurdish television and publishing outlets, paving the way for Kurdish education at private schools?

A beautiful Anatolian proverb expresses it well: the tracks of a dog and horse are similar. Hazy weather encourages a dastardly laid ambush rather than chivalry. That is why I ask everybody to speak clearly and implicitly. Nobody should act like the Kurdish question has no issue or none other than a single actor. Nobody should relieve themselves or try to escape their responsibilities by putting the entire responsibility on the last decade, the AK Party and Erdoğan.

Parties should clearly state what they will do if they come to power and individuals who are capable of becoming opinion leaders should state what they want done. This is the only way we can understand where who stands and what they actually want regarding the Kurdish question.