Turkish Kurds want end to war but don’t fully trust government

According to Kurdpress, the Telegraph begins its report from the historic Sur district of Diyarbakir; an area that became one of the main centers of violence during the 2015 clashes between Turkish security forces and the PKK. Bullets can still be seen on the walls around a closed bakery.Turan Rapsur, 56, ran the bakery before the fighting began. He told The Telegraph that “the bullets were raining down like hail” during that period, and that he ended up losing his home, his belongings, his history and his memories.

Rapsur, whose own home was later destroyed during the clearance operation, now lives in an apartment about half an hour’s bus ride from where he used to live. He says he still remembers Sur’s cobblestone streets and old houses well, but he no longer enjoys returning to the area after the war, because the sounds of people’s suffering still haunt him.

Such memories are a major reason why Turkey’s Kurds are wary of the new peace process, the Telegraph writes.Many want an end to the violence, but the failure of a previous attempt to end the conflict in 2015 has made them wary of political promises.

Despite these doubts, the current developments differ in political and legal dimensions from the previous process. In August, the Turkish parliament passed a law that provides a framework for the disarmament of the PKK and the return of some members of the group to normal life. Under the law, the execution of sentences for some convicts can be suspended and some investigations and court cases can be postponed for a long time, depending on the type of charges.

However, this mechanism does not apply to all PKK members. The law excludes those convicted of premeditated murder or those serving life sentences. For this reason, Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned founder and leader of the PKK,K, and a number of the group's senior leaders will remain in prison.

On the political level, the future of the process will also depend on the support of the Kurds, but the Telegraph emphasizes that this does not necessarily mean their support for Erdogan. The HDP remains one of the main Kurdish political players, and Ceylan Akca says that political forces need “decisive players” to gain power, and the Kurds have played such a role in recent local elections.

At the same time, some Kurds have fundamentally lost trust in the political establishment. Years of unfulfilled promises have led a section of Kurdish society to view not only the government, but even Kurdish political parties with suspicion.

Rapsur, a direct witness to past violence, says that even if the peace process continues, he is not ready to vote for Erdogan and will continue to support the HDP.This position suggests that the end of the armed conflict will not necessarily mean an immediate change in Kurdish political preferences.

The Telegraph concludes its report with a picture of Diyarbakir that shows both the scars of the war past and signs of hope for the future. Above one of the city’s historic gates is a picture of Erdogan with his hand on his heart and the Kurdish phrase “Galek Sepas” (thank you very much), an image that suggests the government is trying to present the peace process as a political achievement.

But at a societal level, concerns about the process failing again remain serious. Rapsur says he cannot even imagine what would happen if people’s hopes were dashed again. After decades of war and displacement, he says, the main goal must still be to end the violence and establish peace.