No concrete step has yet been taken in the discussions that started after Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli's statements on the Kurdish issue. On the other hand, the aggravated isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan in Imrali F Type High Security Prison continues. Initiatives of many groups for the start of the new process continue. One of these organisations is the European Forum for Freedom and Peace (EFFP). EFFP published a text titled "We want to hope and enlarge the possibility of peace" for the search for a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue. In the text signed by nearly 300 people, including politicians, artists, academics, trade unionists, lawyers and human rights defenders, it was called for an end to the intense conflicts that have been going on since 2015 and for the language of peace to prevail in society.

 

One of the signatories, artist Hozan Diyar, pointed out that art and artists have an important place in the struggle of peoples and said that they wanted to strengthen the possibility of peace.

 

'THERE IS A REALITY OF GENOCIDE AGAINST THE KURDISH PEOPLE'

 

Underlining that "security" policies do not produce a solution to the Kurdish issue, Hozan Diyar stated that concrete steps must be taken for a lasting peace. Reacting to MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli's statement that "there is no Kurdish issue", Hozan Diyar said: "There is no 'Kurdish issue' as Bahçeli says, but there is an issue of genocide against the Kurdish people. 100 years of systematic persecution, hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people and other practices are not a problem, but a clear fact of genocide. The Kurdish people as a whole, from artists to politicians, are imposing a solution against these genocide policies. Either this problem is solved or the existing system will destroy itself. This is a historical dialectic. From this point of view, trying to find a temporary solution, saying 'Come and surrender' is disrespectful to 45 years of struggle. Despite all this, it is our duty to turn this into a peace and solution movement."

 

Noting that the possibility of peace must always be defended, Hozan Diyar stated that the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan must end in order to achieve peace.  "The Kurdish people sacrificed their most precious sons to bring the struggle to the ground of peace. It is no longer possible to go back. Peace can only be achieved with mutual respect. Unless the isolation policies against Leader Apo are ended and the will of the Kurds is respected, no lasting peace can be achieved," Hozan Diyar said.

 

Pointing out that art and artists are part of the struggle, Hozan Diyar reminded that the genocide policies against the Kurdish people continue systematically in the fields of art, language and culture. Emphasising that it is not a coincidence that the trustees attacked especially cultural and women's institutions, Hozan Diyar said: "Artists must contribute to the struggle of their people. Without the Kurdish freedom struggle, there would be neither Kurds nor Kurdish. Every artist has to see this."

 

MA / Delal Akyüz