by BARIS YILDIRIM
One of the most hotly debated aspects of #OccupyGezi has been the nature and degree of Kurdish participation. Although from the beginning Kurdish activists have participated intensively in most of the #OccupyGezi protests in metropolitan cities in Turkey, and some MPs of the pro-Kurdish BDP have been closely involved in the movement, the participation of the Kurdish political movement as such — especially in predominantly Kurdish cities — could be at best qualified with the adjective “cautious.”
On the ninth day of the massive protest wave the KCK (Union of Communities in Kurdistan) made a statement calling on the Kurdish people “to take initiative and fulfill responsibility by working with the democratic forces in Turkey.” Abdullah Öcalan and Murat Karay?lan’s hailing of the Gezi resistance followed. Still, everybody knew that the Kurdish people and their main political organizations did not concentrate their forces on the resistance.
The reasons for Kurdish caution were hardly secret.
First, Kurds (i.e., most of the Kurdish people who follow mainstream Kurdish political organizations) were wary that #OccupyGezi could harm the so-called “resolution process” of the Kurdish issue.
Second, Kurds remembered Turks’ lack of solidarity with and even interest in them when Kurds had faced much graver attacks over many decades.
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