External Pressure and Turkish Discourse on 'Kurdish/Democratic Initiative'

Abstract

This article aims at the analysis of the reactions to the external influence within the framework of the recent "Kurdish Initiative" through the discourses of important representatives of different political viewpoints in the Turkish press. As the content of the "Initiative" was not presented to the public by the government, public discussion has been shaped by subjective understandings, including the columnists who began to define the problem and the solution, as well as the scope of the "Initiative", by themselves according to their specific political positions. Although finding a solution to stop the PKK violence as well as improving the conditions of the citizens with Kurdish origin have always been a concern on Turkey's agenda, the specific timing of the "Initiative" raised questions about whether it is exposed to implicit foreign pressure for the initiation of the process. The apparent unpreparedness of the government to bring about any concrete framework seems to support the claims about external involvement and pressure, which is consistently denied by the government. Although a clear tendency for adapting new policies and approaches in line with international intellectual influence to handle the problems of Turkey is shared by most commentators except for the nationalist left and right, specific interstate-level attempts to be involved in the "Kurdish Initiative" is not welcomed by all