The Big Lie: "Kurds in Turkey are Citizens with Equal Rights"

As the laws discussed in this text clearly show, there is a de jure and de facto system in Turkey which denies the identity of the Kurdish people. This denial hasn't just been the policy of the last few years, rather it is part of an unbroken 70-year tradition. As a cursory look at the Turkish legal system will show, from the beginning all laws were drafted in such a way so as to prevent there being any loopholes which the Kurds could make use of, and special regulations were enacted to ensure that Kurds, people with a Kurdish identity, could not enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms. One example, all but 22 of the 177 Articles of the Turkish Constitution insure that the Kurds are not allowed to possess their fundamental rights and freedoms. Of course, neither the Constitution nor the Criminal Code makes use of the word "Kurd", rather Kurdish nationality and Kurdish identity are covered by the notion of that which "violates the territorial and national integrity of the state". Turkey ignores international agreements and treaties. In addition to its refusal to recognize the existence of its Kurdish minority, the Turkish government is not even prepared to guarantee conditions for the Kurdish people which comply with the "Universal Declaration On Human Rights". This is clearly evident if one compares sections of international agreements to sections of Turkish law. Furthermore, a comparison between international and domestic Turkish law clearly shows that the Turkish government is practicing a racist form of assimilation politics with respect to the Kurds. This practice is unique in the world. Despite all of these realities, the Turkish government continues to insist to the world's public that the Kurds in Turkey are not oppressed, that they are not a minority population, and that they are citizens with equal rights. These lies are shamelessly told to the world's public. No one is allowed to reply and accuse the Turkish government: "What sort of equal rights is it that you practice?" The Turkish state exists and it has Turkish schools which teach the Turkish language, political parties, radio and TV stations, and national institutions. The Kurds, on the other hand, have nothing, not even their own identity. What kind of equal rights is that? How can such citizens be called equal? Where else in all the world is there a situation like this? These questions must be asked of the Turkish government. The fact is, the Turkish government can sum up its policies with respect to the Kurds in Turkey with the following sentence: "DESTROY THE MILITANT ELEMENTS, ASSIMILATE THE REST." In other words, destroy the Kurds and kill all those who resist, the rest can be dealt with through the process of assimilation. Those that remain will be Turkified and will no longer have a Kurdish identity. Then there will no longer be a Kurdish problem. That is the foundation of Turkey's policies against the Kurds. Up until now, there has been no end to these practices. Neither Ozal's statement that "there are 12 million Kurds in Turkey" nor Demirel's claim that "we have recognized the Kurdish reality" have resulted in any change of the policies mentioned above. This is because Kurdish policy in Turkey is not dictated by the President, the Prime Minister, or the Turkish Parliament, but rather by the Turkish army, the Turkish secret service (MIT), and the Special War Department. This has always been the case, and things are no different today.
In short, that is the status of the Kurds in Turkey.