Public perception of Turkey’s Kurdish question: What has changed since 2009?

There is no doubt that the Kurdish question is one of modern Turkey's most serious issues, which has been occupying the political agenda for more than 30 years and has cost some 40,000 lives. It is a complex issue that has evolved over time, triggering changes in the political life and public opinion in Turkey. Because public perception plays a significant role in the policies of governments, I would like to examine how the public perception of Turkey's Kurdish question has evolved over time by analyzing the results of two public surveys: the Society for Political, Economic and Social Research's (SETA) 2009 Public Perception of the Kurdish Question in Turkey, and a 2015 survey by Kadir Has called Social and Political Trends in Turkey.

According to the SETA survey conducted in 2009, the Kurdish question was considered the biggest problem in Turkey by 16.2 percent of those surveyed, while only 8.6 percent shared the same view in the more recent Kadir Has survey. However, it should be noted here that the "Kurdish question" and "terrorism" were evaluated together in the same option in 2009, while "terrorism" was given as a separate option in 2015 with a response of 13.9 percent. With this in mind, it could be hypothesized that apart from issues such as unemployment and economic problems, the Kurdish question is increasingly arousing people's attention in Turkey - a remarkable fact given that there are political parties in Parliament that still deny the existence of the Kurdish problem in Turkey.

An integral part of the Kurdish issue is, of course, the ongoing reconciliation process between the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the Kurdish side composed of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) and Abdullah Öcalan. In 2009, 48.1 percent of those who participated in the survey considered the government's initiatives to resolve the problem as positive, whereas 44.1 percent hold the same view today. In the first instance, it seems that the number of people considering the ongoing talks as positive has decreased a little over time, but actually 23.4 percent of respondents in the 2015 survey were of the view that "more effort is required for the peace process." This shows that public support for the Kurdish question has actually increased since 2009. As a matter of fact, another recent survey carried out by ANAR also revealed that 68.6 percent of participants support the reconciliation process.

Another characteristic of the Kurdish question is its complexity, which involves political, cultural and educational dimensions. Additionally, a range of different views on the issue makes it even more multifaceted. Indeed, all views should, without a doubt be taken seriously, but there are also wrong assumptions existing in society, which need to be dealt with. For instance, the assumption that Kurds in Turkey want to have a separate state was believed to be a fact by 71.3 percent of Turkish participants in 2009, and 51.4 percent of those surveyed still hold the same view in 2015, although this represents a significant decrease. On the other hand, while 30.3 percent of Kurdish respondents were of the view that "Kurds should have a separate state," only 27.2 percent of Kurds share the same view today. Besides, the majority of Kurdish respondents, 31.1 percent, were in favor of "a more democratic Turkey." These figures clearly indicate that a considerable number of Turkish participants hold an assumption which is, in fact, groundless. Nevertheless, at least the number of the Turks with baseless assumptions is on the decline.

People in Turkey are in favor of different methods for finding a solution to the Kurdish issue. The solution of the Kurdish problem through military and political means are the two main popular options. In 2009, 41.2 percent of participants considered Parliament to be the place where the problem should be resolved, i.e., politics, while 39.9 percent of the participants insisted on security measures, i.e., the military. On the other hand, the findings of the recent survey showed that 39.2 percent were in favor of military means, whereas only 30.9 percent supported political means. It seems that there has been an increase in support of military measures for the solution. One possible explanation for this increase might be the insurgencies that took place in different cities in Turkey in 2014, as PKK militants were accused of instigating the incidents, causing the deaths of dozens of innocent people. Nevertheless, despite this unfortunate increase, there were also other methods for the solution preferred by participants, such as cultural policies preferred by 11.8 percent, economic measures by 9.1 percent and social policies by 8.3 percent. In other words, more than 60 percent of respondents did not see military means as a useful method for solving the issue.

The findings of both surveys show that the political views of the HDP, PKK and Öcalan are not believed to represent all Kurds in Turkey by the majority of participants. So, there appears to be an issue of the representation of some Kurds here. In fact, while collecting data for my research, I also interviewed some Kurdish teachers last year, and drawing upon their comments, almost half specifically mentioned the serious issue of the representation of Kurds in the reconciliation process. They did not believe that all Kurds are currently represented in the peace talks, and thus the involvement of other segments of Kurdish society in the process was seen as a requirement. So, all sides in the reconciliation process should lend an ear to the reasonable and understandable demands of the people, and they should further include other segments of society that are eager to contribute to the peace process in a different way. What is more, all sides should also be open to any criticism that might contribute to the ongoing talks as well, even though criticism is usually perceived as a negative thing in Turkey.

Given the complexity of the issue, there is a long way to go before we arrive at a solution. However, in order for Turkey's Kurds to have the same rights as Turks in different aspects of life, ranging from politics to education, the AK Party government should make sure that it consistently implements the required reforms in different fields in order to improve the rights of its citizens. The Kadir Has survey has revealed that 47.7 percent of respondents thought that the policies of the AK Party government regarding the Kurdish issue are unsuccessful, while 25 percent shared the opposite view. These data should definitely be taken seriously by the AK Party.

In a nutshell, the findings display that people in Turkey are definitely in favor of attempts to resolve one of the most serious problems in Turkey, that is, peace in every region of the country and the idea of living together in cultural diversity. Let us hope that these hopes will remain and eventually bring about a permanent peace in Turkey.