If Kurds are sincere in their desire to live side by side with ethnic Turks within common borders then they are being political imbeciles if they do not make their demands as simple and effective as: "We want not more, but not less, than Turkey has been trying to secure for the Turkish Cypriot ethnic minority [circa 15%] in Cyprus". It is a concise and powerful message:
[1] It cripples Turks' nationalistic argumentation
[2] It is easily understood by the west (Cyprus is an EU member)
[3] It guarantees minimum community rights beyond Kurds' expectations
To my Kurdish friends, with love I tell you, if you cannot see the sheer power of the message then you are either insincere in as far as your political goal or simply political dwarfs!
I have been exploring this very analogy on my blog for almost a year now! I hope I am successful in converting you to my way of thinking. For your sake, as well as Cypriots'. My motive is selfish: I believe that if Kurds ask for Cyprus-like community rights in Turkey itself then Turkey will be more likely to abandon her insincere, irrational, illegal and outdated demands in Cyprus! The end result can be a win-win-win for the Kurdish, Turkish and Cypriot peoples. Extreme nationalism, wherever it may reside, will be the only loser!
Comment first made on Aug 26th 2011 8:07 GMT on The Economist's article Giving war a chance - The Turkish response to a surge in Kurdish violence has been swift and hard | Aug 27th 2011 | DIYARBAKIR AND ULUDERE
