A conference was held on 20-21 June under the leadership of the Mesopotamia Islamic Studies Federation (MİA-FED) and the slogan "Democratic Islam: Sincerity in faith, freedom in society." Numerous presentations and forums were held at the conference, which was attended by many religious scholars, civil society organizations, political party representatives and academics from Kurdistan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.

 

One of those attending the conference was Prof. Dr. Muhammad Rifat Al-Imam, author of many works including "Kurdish Mountain: Identity Struggles Before Genocide, Conflicts of Mirliks, Sheikhs, Sultans and Shahs 1514-1914," "The Centennial of the Şêx Seîdê Pîran Uprising — From Şêx Seîd to the Abdullah Öcalan Struggle," "Armenians, the West and Islam: Perpetrators, Victims and Suspects," "Armenians in Egypt 1896-1961" and "The Armenian Question in the Ottoman State 1878-1923." Prof. Dr. Muhammad Rifat Al-Imam, a Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, member of the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Council and former Dean of the Faculty of Literature at Egypt's Damanhour University, conducts academic research on Kurds and Armenians. Al-Imam, who has conducted academic research in Egypt on the thought and struggle of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, has also supervised master's and doctoral theses prepared on this subject and has appeared as a guest in many publications on topics related to the Kurdish question, the peace process and the PKK.

 

'THE KURDS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THEIR GOOD FAITH'

 

Al-Imam, who attended the conference, answered Mezopotamya Agency's (MA) questions. Stating that Abdullah Öcalan has taken responsibility and strived for peace and democracy, Al-Imam recalled the steps taken by the PKK and said: "Since the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) agreed to begin laying down arms and dissolving the party, taking positive steps, the Kurds have demonstrated their good faith and positive steps. What remains is for the Turkish state to be honest in its negotiations with Mr. Öcalan and the Kurds, and not to see them as a political card to be used — until Erdoğan carries out the constitutional changes to his own benefit — while the Kurds gain nothing from this stage."

 

Noting that since the founding of the Republic, the Kurds have been seen as the greatest security threat, Al-Imam said that every Turk holds such a belief. He said that in the state's view, any privilege the Kurds might gain is seen as a diminution of the Republic's balance. "For this reason, in the Turkish mind-set, there is a psychological complex that their greatest enemies are the Kurds. It is a doctrine deeply embedded in Turkish psychology," he added.

 

'THE ACHIEVEMENT OF BRINGING THE KURDS INTO THE EQUATION BELONGS TO ÖCALAN'

 

Al-Imam said that after the Turkish state declared following the Dêrsim massacre that the Kurdish issue no longer existed, Abdullah Öcalan played a key role in proving that the problem is an existing reality.

 

Saying "The achievement of reintegrating the Kurds into the equation of international relations belongs to Öcalan," Al-Imam said that the achievement of getting Arabs, regional and international powers to include the Kurds in their strategic calculations also belongs to Abdullah Öcalan. "Alongside his combatant role in the field, his intellectual struggle outside the field — his formulation of the Democratic Nation project, of peace and democratic society — is a role that Abdullah Öcalan has assumed for the Kurds and the Middle East."

 

INTELLECTUALS' APPROACH TO THE KURDISH ISSUE

 

Speaking on Middle Eastern intellectuals' approach to the Kurdish issue, Al-Imam said that there is a current of Egyptian and Arab intellectuals who engage with this problem independently of governments. Al-Imam said: "For example, I have publications on the Kurdish question, I have master's and doctoral students working on the Kurdish question, and all universities in Egypt award academic degrees on topics related to the Kurds. So there are also positive tendencies in favor of the Kurdish question, removed from the authority of governments — from Baathist authority, from Kemalist authority and from Erdoğan's religious authority."

 

LESSONS TO BE DRAWN FROM HISTORY

 

On what the most critical threshold should be for the process to reach a lasting outcome and what lessons should be drawn from history, he said: "Throughout history, the Turks have always deceived the Kurds. The new generation of Kurds should not fall into this deception or trap of the Turks, should draw lessons from past experience, negotiate from a position of strength, and conduct negotiations with weapons in hand until peace is fully guaranteed."

 

A MESSAGE TO THE ARAB AND KURDISTAN PEOPLES

 

Giving a message to the Arab and Kurdistan peoples, Al-Imam said that it is the peoples who come from below that build nations, and added: "It is also they who build empires. Regimes work for their own calculations and their own interests; they exploit the peoples, discriminate among them, use them and drain them for their own personal interests. For this reason, the peoples of the region must unite for their own future, must not be tools of regimes, and must work together free from the authority of Baathist, Kemalist and religious regimes."

 

MA / Müjdat Can - Bernas Kaynar