Two villages in a rural southeastern province are as divided as the rest of the country over the government’s efforts to resolve the Kurdish problem. But villagers from both sides agree that the initiative has created one thing they have been lacking for decades: hope.

And as a result, for the first time in living memory, people are talking about peace.

This government’s “Kurdish initiative” has yet to produce any concrete results, but it has created an atmosphere that has allowed people from all sides to voice their ideas. Politicians, academics and journalists have been discussing the issue, and every morning Turkey wakes to another day of debate about the Kurdish problem and its solutions.

Kurds living in southeastern Turkey have been quietly following the recent developments and are hopeful despite their negative experiences in the past.

The peaceful relations between the Salihli and Dalbudak villages in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır may reflect the general feeling in the region. The two villages wee enemies throughout most of the 1990s because one chose to join the village guard system while young people from the other joined the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Now, older villagers want the next generation to experience peace.

“Children should not live under the shadow of guns anymore,” said Salihli villager Ramazan Çakan, 65.

Çakan said the process would result not only in Turks and Kurds making peace but also in a more personal rapprochement among Kurds themselves.

Salihli and Dalbudak are examples of how that process might unfold. After a decade of animosity, villagers from both sides can cross the hill between the two villages without fear.

Erhan Demir, 22, from Salihli, said his brother joined the PKK when Demirwas just 7 years old. He grew up fearing village guards. But today he said there are no problems between them and his family.

“Sometimes, I shake their hands when I come across village guards in Salihli. Maybe this is a symbol of the peace between us,” he said, adding that both sides want peace in the region.

V.C., 28, a former PKK member living in Salihli who did not want to give his name, listed five preconditions for a solution: education in students’ mother language; a constitutional guarantee for citizens’ rights; and answers to the problems of identity, discrimination and employment.

V.C. said Turkish discrimination against Kurds is often ignored. The discrimination is not based on cultural differences but is a result of the official ideology, he said.

“This is one of the main problems young people face whenever they come across Turks at university or in western cities,” he said.

“Kurds are seen as second-class people by Turks. First, this should change,” said Ali Batur, 21, from Salihli. Batur, a student at Yüzüncü Yıl University in the southeastern province of Van, said the students at his university were from various regions of Turkey.

“Whenever I say I am Kurdish and from Diyarbakır, I am treated as a terrorist,” he said.

He complained that people from the west were especially prejudiced against people from the East because most had never been there.

“People living in western Turkey should come and learn about us,” Batur said. “They will see we are not evil or terrorists.”

Economic problems

Economic problems, especially unemployment, are another significant reason most young villagers feel nervous about the future.

Young people in the village play backgammon in Salihli’s one and only teahouse. Some are university students while others are preparing their university exams. When asked about their hopes and dreams, they wanted to go outside to talk; a few village guards were among the teahouse patrons.

When they were able to talk comfortably, the young men expressed hope for the future but were also troubled by the lack employment opportunities.

The university entrance exam is especially hard for them because most started learning Turkish when they entered primary school. Most take local university entrance examination preparatory courses, which cost 1,200 Turkish liras – a huge amount in the region.

“I have never had a summer holiday because it requires money,” said Mahmut Ecer, 22. “During the summer, I work at building sites in İzmir for two months and collect money to pay for university preparation courses.”

Like Ecer, Demir from Salihli complained about the lack of employment in the region. Some people take the exam four times because it is the only way to get a job, but they are pessimistic about it, too.

“Even if we graduate from university, will we be able to find a job?” Ecer said. “Most of us want to work near our homes, but there are no job opportunities here. That should change first.”

Young villagers see university as a way to escape poverty and the lack of freedom. In the village, they say, they cannot stay outside the house after sundown. But they do not dramatize the situation because they are used to living with the restrictions. The most significant problem is unemployment and the lack of investments in the region. But they also are aware that they lack many opportunities their peers enjoy in the West.

Initiative

The government’s efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue have created hope in the region even though they are not sure whether the government is serious about it.

They all hope peace will come sometime soon.

Most locals believe the first condition of peace should be to stop the military’s operations. As long as people are dying, both PKK members and soldiers, true peace is not possible, they say.

Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK’s jailed leader, is another divisive issue in the region, as it is for the rest of the country.

For most villagers, Öcalan is a symbol of the reconstruction and protection of the Kurdish identity; for the state and for the public, Öcalan is seen as a terrorist responsible for many deaths. But in the Southeast, where many relate the solutions directly to Öcalan’s freedom, he is still seen as a hero.

Nezir Ç., who served 10 years in prison on charges of being a PKK member, said any peace scenario without Öcalan would not address the problem. He said he would not feel comfortable unless Öcalan is released.

“He is not in jail because of something he did for his own benefit. He has no family, no property, no wealth. He is in jail because of what he did for a better future for the Kurdish people,” he said.

Nezir Ç. said he was arrested when he was 18 and forced to sign a written statement confessing to being a member of the PKK in 1996. He still believes that if the right conditions are met, peace can come within two years.

K.Ç., 47, another villager from Salihli, agreed with Nezir Ç. as he also believed that peace can come easily. But his condition is the same: Öcalan’s release.

Asri Uçak disagreed. A village guard living in the Dalbudak village who lost his father in a PKK attack, Uçak said any amnesty for PKK members could come after a lasting peace is established. “But it should be for those who were not involved in any kind of attacks or shootings,” he said. “Otherwise, I won’t accept an amnesty.”

Still peace is something everyone hopes will come. Hacı Ulaş, 53, the head of the village guards in Dalbudak, said they were all tired of fighting or waiting on duty for a possible attack.

Peace is something everyone hopes for, but few have a clear idea about how it can be achieved.

Ayşe Doğu, whose son joined the PKK 17 years ago and has not been heard of since, said the families of those who died or are still fighting are suffering the most.

“Edi bese,” Doğu said, which means “that’s enough” in Kurdish. “The mothers of police officers and soldiers and I [the mother of a PKK member] will say ‘edi bese’ altogether to end this fight.”