Journalist and author Serdar Korucu said the confrontation unfolding today is significant, noting that even if a reckoning begins, it will inevitably start in a limited way, yet in a democratic society people will demand more and must demand more.
Serdar Korucu, writer of “Şimdi Kim Kaldı Imroz’da”, “Sancak Düştü – İskenderun Sancağından Hatay’a Ermeni Meselesi”, “Cumartesi Anneleri Galatasaray Meydanı’nda 1000 Hafta”, “Akşam İstanbul’da Çok Fena Şeyler Oldu – 6-7 Eylül 1955’in Son Tanıkları Anlatıyor” and “Bu Yas Bitmez – Cizre, Silopi, Beytüşşebap, Sur, Yüksekova ve Nusaybin’dekiler Anlatıyor 2015-2016”, spoke to ANF about the long historical period that has shaped the present. Korucu stated the last 52 years have witnessed profound events and said: “Everyone can interpret this period from their own perspective. Even within the Kurdish community, differing narratives emerge, because this is a very long and multilayered era. It can be read both as resistance and as destruction. No matter which angle we speak from, I think one observation must be made: the existence of a people who, for decades in the Turkish press, were mentioned only in headlines such as ‘The imagined Kurdistan lies buried here’ in the 1930s, or in the 1960s as ‘Defendants accused of promoting Kurdish nationalism demand prison sentences,’ a people who, as Ismail Beşikçi said, were not even considered ‘worthy of being a colony’, has now been acknowledged and become a political subject. For example, in the Case of the 49s, prosecutor Bülent Akmanlar of that era stated that ‘there cannot be a Kurdish element within the borders of this homeland.’ Today, neither prosecutors nor those governing the state use such expressions. This is clearly an achievement and it was not easy. In the intervening decades, the country witnessed politically motivated murders with known perpetrators, enforced disappearances, and massacres that should have been prosecuted as crimes against humanity.”
Those who carry the pain must be the ones to decide
Korucu emphasized that a true climate of peace cannot be achieved without confrontation and said: “However, the question of how and when this will happen remains unclear. Deciding how and when a reckoning should take place is a matter for both negotiating sides, but even before them, it is a matter for those who are the direct subjects of the injustices being confronted. They must have the authority; the answer belongs to them. Academics, civil society organisations, lawyers and journalists can express opinions, explain how such processes unfolded in other parts of the world, share experiences and make recommendations. These contributions are valuable, but I believe the final say must belong to those who carry the pain. For example, this is one of the most debated aspects of the process. Some say the process cannot begin without first confronting what happened, and therefore oppose it. Yet when we look at the people who are the real subjects of this issue, we do not see such an objection. The Peace Mothers… From the very beginning they have firmly said ‘peace,’ and continue to do so. The Saturday Mothers demand the truth about their relatives who were disappeared in custody and the prosecution of those responsible and yet they also support the peace process. And the period of destruction in the cities in 2015–2016… Perhaps the least discussed chapter. From Sur to Cizre, from Nusaybin to Yüksekova, hundreds of families have the right to speak on this matter. Among the people I spoke to for my book ‘Bu Yas Bitmez’, prepared with the support of Eren Keskin and the Human Rights Association (IHD) branches, and among those I later stayed in contact with, not a single person opposed peace or the process. In my view, what we should reject first and foremost is the top-down discourse that sidelines the voices of these families. No one has the right to stand in front of them.”
Reckonings must be approached in a holistic way
Korucu said that reckoning must be experienced in a holistic manner, but noted that even setting aside the question of full reckoning, global examples show how difficult it is to deepen confrontation even within a single area. He pointed out that even in Germany, often presented as one of the strongest examples, genuine cleansing has not taken place. Korucu continued: “It is not difficult to foresee that shortcomings will appear even at the very beginning of any reckoning. Take enforced disappearances, for example… The majority are connected to the Kurdish issue. The normalised attitude of the state in the early 1990s is illustrated by the account of Münübe Türkoğlu, sister of Talat Türkoğlu, who said: ‘The State Security Court prosecutor told me, “Enforced disappearances, well, technically they were not detained but disappeared, happen a lot in the Southeast, but not in Thrace. This is the first time I’m hearing of it.”It also seems unlikely that any future reckoning could cover all cases of enforced disappearance, because the Saturday Mothers trace the beginning of these disappearances back to 1915, to the Armenian intellectuals detained on 24 April, the symbolic date of Armenian genocide commemorations. Therefore, expecting Ankara to extend a potential reckoning back to 1915 at the first stage is, unfortunately, very difficult. Even if a reckoning begins, it will start in a limited way. But in a democratic society on which peace is expected to rest, of course more will be demanded and it must be demanded.”
The Kurdish movement highlights the need for reckoning
Korucu touched on the debate around helalleşme, noting that in Islamic literature the term signifies a form of forgiveness, whereas what is needed in this context is a genuine reckoning. Korucu explained: “In the letter by Abdullah Öcalan that was read during the 2013 Newroz celebration in Amed (Diyarbakır), he said, ‘The Turkish people must know that the near thousand-year common life with the Kurds under the banner of Islam is based on the law of brotherhood and solidarity,’ and in the same letter he used the term helalleşme (a culturally specific practice of seeking and granting forgiveness), saying: ‘This is not a time for dispute, conflict or belittling one another, but a time for alliance, unity, embrace and helalleşme.’ Later, helalleşme was adopted by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, one of the former leaders of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), almost as a political initiative. The Kurdish movement, however, emphasises the necessity of reckoning. Helalleşme, because it evokes the idea of ‘forgiveness,’ appears more difficult than reckoning, since those who can forgive, the ones from whom forgiveness is sought, are the survivors. Jacques Derrida argues that this is ‘incomplete,’ because, according to him, the true subjects of forgiveness are those who are no longer alive. Even their relatives, though they are themselves ‘victims,’ are not entitled to take the place of the dead. The survivors possess the right to forgive only for what the perpetrator inflicted upon them personally. For this reason, Derrida considers ‘absolute forgiveness’ impossible.”
The period of war must end for reckoning to begin
Serdar Korucu said that any process of reckoning requires the closure of the period that produced the injustices. Korucu also said: “For example, during what we can describe as the first peace process, until 2015, we were talking about reckoning, and many discussions were taking place. But because that ‘period’ never truly closed, the return to war policies reasserted itself. It became impossible to stabilise collective memory. New wounds were added to old ones. Far from opening a ‘clean’ page, new losses emerged, new families began to suffer. Cemile Çağırga, whose lifeless body had to be kept in a refrigerator by her family under the scorching heat of Cizre; Helin Şen, the 12-year-old killed by police in Sur; and Taybet Ana, whose body lay in the middle of the street and became etched into everyone’s memory, these are only a few of those names. We now need to reckon with all these losses, but for that to happen, the era of war policies must come to an end.”