SÜDEF President Evgil Türker: The current Turkish-Kurdish peace talks could have a profound positive impact for Syriacs, and we should all embrace this 

MEDYAD, Turkey — In October 2024, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made a historic proposal calling on the imprisoned co-founder and leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê, PKK) Abdullah Öcalan to come and address the Turkish parliament to dissolve the PKK ­— which is outlawed in Turkey — and stop the fighting between its guerillas and the Turkish Army.

This represented a major change in the way the Turkish government deals with the Turkish-Kurdish conflict that has been going on for four decades. Since then, talks have begun between the PKK-sympathetic Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), Turkish political faction leaders, and Kurdish parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Expectations are now high, and it has been said for some time now that Öcalan will make a breakthrough statement on the Kurdish issue in Turkey, the position of his PKK, and how to proceed to establish a democratic Turkey where there is freedom and equality for all peoples — a central position in his thinking.

Evgil Türker, the chairman of the Federation of Syriac Associations in Turkey (Süryani Dernekler Federasyonu, SÜDEF), spoke to news website Arti Gercek and discussed the possible implications of the so-called ‘Imrali talks’ on Syriacs, their possible role in them, and the consequences for his people. Türker follows the talks closely and gathers from his many conversations with Syriacs in Turkey and in the diaspora that the topic is very much alive within his people — especially considering that Syriacs and Kurds have long lived together in Tur Abdin, one of the Syriacs’ home regions.

It is clear that a possible peace will have serious consequences for the Syriacs. If the process is peace and real democracy, the Syriacs will support it first and foremost, says Türker. The reason that most of the Turkey’s Syriacs live in the diaspora is political, even though the constitution puts all citizens on an equal footing. According to Türker, the prevailing mentality of Turkey since the establishment of the Republic is one of denial, monism and ignorance towards other peoples. It has caused many Syriacs to seek security and stability elsewhere.

If the current process and discussions succeed, many Syriacs will be very satisfied. There could even be reverse migration. “If the solution really resembles the thinking that Mr. Abdullah Öcalan has developed, the Syriacs will support and contribute to this.”

SÜDEF being a co-founding organization of the DEM Parry, Syriacs have a special connection with Öcalan, according to Türker.

“Because we have seen how much he values Syriacs in his statements and discourses. He has spoken about the Syriacs as one of the most ancient peoples of this land and called them a most valuable people. That is why the Syriacs value him, and that is why they are expecting something.”

The SÜDEF President gives the example of how the PKK leaders thinking has led to the establishment of a democratic nation model, a form of self-government, in North and East Syria where the different peoples govern together. Syriacs are involved in every institution of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the Region of North and East Syria (DAARNES).

“This democratic nation model needs to be carried further. Syriacs want their rights to be recognized constitutionally in Turkey. If there is to be democratization in Turkey, it must include all identities and ethnicities. Only in this way can this problem be solved. Not with denialist and monist policies. We support this process regardless of its name. Until today, Syriacs have valued all of Mr. Öcalan’s statements. This has not changed,” he said.

Türker calls on the Syriacs in particular to embrace the developing process and talks., the Turkish state and other communities and peoples should also embrace it, he says.

He further indicated that as president of SÜDEF he would like to meet with Abdullah Öcalan and discuss the issues with him.