Let's stand for peace

Selahattin Demirtaş

The new search, with Devlet Bahçeli, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Abdullah Öcalan at the center, bore its first fruit as Ramadan began. There are those who have great confidence in these leaders, each of whom is the most powerful figure of the groups they represent, and there are those who distrust and worry about them.

Of course, both sides have legitimate reasons, no one can deny that. This is precisely the difficulty of peace. Lasting peace can only be achieved through a process that the majority of the society trusts, believes in, and wholeheartedly supports.

Another challenge is the provocations of national, regional, and global interest groups in their haste to lose all their gains, comforts, and interests indexed to the war.

Overcoming these difficulties is not easy, but it is not impossible. First of all, everyone who believes in peace and wants peace should make every effort to overcome these problems with all their good intentions.

At this point, a legitimate question may come to mind: “Okay, let's do our best, but we don't know what is happening, what is being done.”

Let me try to explain what is being done.

War, weapons, violence, terror, blood, tears, death and destruction are wanted to end, brothers and sisters, that's all. WANTED TO END! Provided that all the necessary legal and political structures are created in the Parliament, of course.

For those who say “This is not enough for me,” let me say the following:

- If those who are holding the guns decide to end the war, what exactly is it that bothers you?

- If we are going to continue with political, civilian struggle, don't you trust yourself? If you are doing politics relying on the PKK or the state's military, of course, you will be anxious about the end of the war. But every war has an end, and it is the most moral and right thing to prepare yourself for that and support peace.

- If you say “I am Kurdish, what about my rights?”, you must first trust yourself. You will trust your experiences, your knowledge, your organized and political people. Understanding that the path of political struggle is not a path of surrender, defeat and loss, you will continue on the road with faith.

- If you are afraid, “I am a Turk, won't my country and state be divided if concessions are made to ‘terrorism’?”, you should first trust yourself and then trust your brother and sister of a thousand years, the Kurd. You should believe that we will grow together, let alone be divided, if the state becomes the state of the Kurd too, if you stand by the Kurd who will continue their struggle for a just, equal, and free life through politics and peaceful means, 

- If you are hesitant, “Is it that simple, is there something fishy underneath?” let me tell you this, dear: It is that simple. But realizing this “simple” thing requires serious work, effort, and planning.

The solution is simple but serious. Serious because this is the Middle East, hands are still on the trigger, and blood is still dropping. It is serious because death is serious and the only thing more serious than death is life. Trying to make life prevail out of these two serious things is not as easy as it looks from the outside.

Don't be afraid of peace and reconciliation, dear. Don't be afraid of being together as Turks and Kurds and growing Turkey. Do not be afraid to support every step that will bring peace to the region. Don't be afraid so that this time we can silence the guns and let politics do the talking. And through political struggle, let us defeat poverty, unemployment, hunger, injustice and inequality together. Let's ensure that the billions of dollars spent on war are spent directly on the people. Let's not forget that peace is also bread, love and work.

Erdoğan, Bahçeli and Öcalan… May God grant them all a long and healthy life, I will do my best to ensure the success of these three leaders who have taken the initiative for peace in the Middle East and for the historic Kurdish-Turkish peace.

If you say, “What about the election?” that is your business, your decision, your will, dear. You are the people, you make the final decision. No one is asking you today to vote for Erdoğan, Bahçeli, DEM Party or CHP, you are being asked to give a drop of water to the tree of peace.

I don't want either my soldier brother on guard duty in Gabar or my own brother in Qandil to die. Both of them should stop shooting at each other. First, let's embrace each other, Turkish and Kurdish, for the sake of millennia, and then the rest is the work of the political struggle, the work of politicians, our work.

May this month of Ramadan bring lasting peace, brotherhood and tranquility. For this, let’s all stand for peace.

I am on the side of peace, until we succeed.

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