VIII. ARE THERE ANY PEOPLE OF KURDISH DESCENT SUBJECT TO DISCRIMINATION IN SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE?

It is partly told in the previous chapters that ethnically based attitudes are not approved in Turkish social life and within the policy of the State. While in the 19th century in the Ottoman Empire the word, "Turkish" was not used officially and widespread, Western authors referred to "Turkish" to name the rulers of the Empire and its subject people in Anatolia.37 Founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who adopted Western philosophy of enlightenment giving preeminence to science and reason referred to "Turkishness" as a factor of unity for the people living within the borders of the Republic. Nonexistence of discrimination in social life is reflected under Article 10 of the Turkish constitution which states that all individuals are equal without any discrimination before the law irrespective of language, race, color, sex, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion or religious sect or any such considerations and no privilege shall be granted to any individual, family, group or class.

Discriminative treatment in professions and in cities against people of particular ethnic ancestry almost never takes place.38 On marriage and human relations ethnic origin is far from being determinative.39 Citizens of Kurdish descent in Turkey can live in any part of the country; they can have a profession; they can have their right to cast their votes and become candidates in the elections, and they can take part in public services with no discrimination. It is almost impossible to define such a cohesive social structure within the context of Turkish-Kurdish polarization. In the suburbs of big cities where people from Eastern Turkey have migrated the problems arising from the inability to cope with urban life may become less serious if suburban problems are solved and the share from the economic prosperity increases. Also in such a case, reactions in the form of strengthening ethnic ties and gathering and solidarity with the people from the same region with the same problems eventually resulting in exclusion from the larger community will be weakened.

37 Mango, Türkiye’nin... [Turkey:...], p. 48; Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, "Kürt Asıllı Türk Olur Mu?" [Is It Possible To Be Turkish Of Kurdish Descent?], Cumhuriyet, 22 November 1995. For the naming of the land of Anatolia as "Turkey" since 3rd Crusade around 1174 A.D., long before Atatürk, see Bozkurt Güvenç, Türk Kimliği [Turkish Identity] (Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1993), p. 134 and Halil Kemal Türközü, Türkmen Ülkesi (=Doğu Anadolu) Adı ve Emperyalizmin Etkileri [The Title of Turkoman Land (Eastern Anatolia) and the Influence of Imperialism] (Ankara: Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü, 1985), p. 8.

38 Mustafa Özbek, "Güneydoğu Anadolu Göç Sorunu" [Southeastern Anatolia’s Migration Problem], Türk Metal Haber Bülteni, pp. 3-4.

39 Özbek, "Güneydoğu Anadolu..." [Southeastern Anatolia’s...], p. 5.