As Abdullah Öcalan’s “Call for Democratic Society and Peace” continues to resonate around the world, international support for the peace process is also growing. Political scientist Jino Victoria Doabi, who conducts research in international politics and is based in Copenhagen, drew attention to the historical significance of Öcalan’s call and urged European Union institutions to support the process.
Responding to questions from journalist Erem Kansoy from Medya Haber TV, Jino Victoria Doabi said: “Everybody should support any act of peace and development and democracy, which was Öcalan’s call and the PKK’s decision to lay down arms, is obviously also historical. It shows that the Kurdish people as a people, one nation, are democratic and that they seek a political solution and that is possible within the Kurdish cause, and it deserves serious support at international and national levels.
I think that Öcalan and the PKK, by seeking this peace process, have also exposed the Turkish dilemma, which is, on the one hand, why has Turkey, as a state, ethnically cleansed Kurds in Bakur? Why has Turkey been so hostile against Kurds that they can’t even say the word Kurd? The second problem is Erdoğan. His whole political situation is built on hostility towards Kurds. He has no plans for developing the economic situation in Turkey, the climate crisis, the society problems, the developments in education and other things that could develop the Turkish people and the land of Turkey. That has been exposed. So Turkey is right now in a dilemma.”
Doabi added: “We talked about the peace process, but we were not really serious about it and I think that is being seriously exposed on the international stage because we haven’t seen any serious steps from Turkey. Rather, we have seen that the PKK, in fact, are taking this really seriously, but we see hostility towards Kurds in Rojava, but also in Bakur. I obviously like the European Union to take an active step to support the peace process, rather than the US, through political pressure, mediation and conditional engagements.
Kaja Kallas was talking about how Europe can be a force to support institution-building and so on, and I think that is a really great idea, because we have experience in Europe and in the European Union, how these institutions, for example, federalism, self-governance and so on, we have experience within the European Union, how that can be successful. So I applaud that, and I hope that the European Union takes the necessary step towards that.”