The authors and researchers in Turkey and elsewhere have written a lot on the Kurdish question. Politicians have talked even more. Yet we have neither agreed on a common definition of the problem nor produced a sound road map to deal with it. That is why the issue begs many questions to understand it. Here are some that may help understanding this complex issue:
1- Is the ‘Kurdish problem’ (KP) really a matter that only involves only the Kurds or is it a problem of the political system that disempowers all peoples in Turkey other than ethnic Turks?
2- If ethnic Turks are identified with the Muslim faith and its Sunni conviction, could it be that not only Kurds but also other faith and ethnic groups are discriminated against, aggrandizing the KP to a problem of equal citizenship for all?
3- If the KP is not officially recognized, how can national cohesion and political stability be maintained?
4- Is the PKK an epiphenomenon of the KP or the reason of the phenomenon?
5- Is Kurdish ethnic nationalism the (‘illegitimate’) child of Turkish ethnic nationalism?
6- Are ethnic Turks, that are simply defined as the Turkish people, ready to accept the legal and political equality of the Kurds and help them to attain cultural and civic rights just because they are fellow citizens? If not, are we really faced with a Turkish problem that is even a thougher problem to solve?
7- Can the rising wave of violence be suppressed by even greater security measures of the government?
8- Can increase in security measures and the closure of the BDP (the Kurdish party affiliated with the PKK) be a panacea to quell terrorism or would it further distance Turks and Kurds as the PKK wishes?
9- If BDP cannot dissociate itself from the PKK, shouldn’t the government encourage the emergence of non-violent Kurdish political organizations to rally Kurds for the democratic cause rather than shunning anything that is Kurdish?
10- If the government fails to win the majority of the Kurds in the country, wouldn’t the Kurdish people be held at ransom by the PKK that wants to control the whole Kurdish political arena in Turkey and in neighboring countries?
11- Isn’t PKK’s appetite to control all of the Kurds under a tight leash a curse for the hopes of the Kurds for peace and democracy?
12- Is it true that the Turkish establishment wants to vanguish the PKK without tackling the KP?
13- Is it true that the PKK is not fighting for the civic rights of the Kurds or a full fledged democracy but rather to wrench a Kurdistan to run on its own?
14- Are we withnessing a recurring omen regarding the Killing of the Turks by the Turks (‘deep state’) that wanted wider civic rights in the past now repeated by the killing of Kurds by Kurds (PKK)who want democracy and equal rights without irrtedentist ambitions?
15- Is politics sacrificed to security measures because conflicting sides are not ready or willing to compromise on democratic ideals and practices?
16- Is the Turkish establishment and presss viewing the matter as a distant armed conflict between “terrorists” and army units in distant mountain tops and platos and failing to see the damages it inflicts on the sytem?
17- Did the people in Turkey fail to see the enormous popular energy unleashed with the Arap Spring and its effects on Turkey’s centralized administrative system and statist political culture?
18- Has the Turkish people left the solution of the KP to the politicians and refrained taking responsibility in formulating a way out?
19- Are Turks deluding themselves believing that the KP only pertains to Turkey and it can be solved (rather quelled) within this country?
20- Is it normal for the army of a country to wage an internal war for the past 30 years?
21- Is it normal for a regime not to solve a vital problem since its inception?
22- How long Turkey can maintain her integrity and political stability if it can not solve the KP as soon as possible given rising terrorism that is driving a wedge between ethnic goups of this country and souring its psychology?


Prof. Dr. Doğu Ergil is a Professor of political Science in Fatih University \ Turkey, and also an expert on the Kurdish Question, and he is one of the well-known authors in Turkey.