Who is the greenest ? Or, who wants peace

 

Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan said it clearly: he expects to receive an answer from the state’s delegation about the state of the process, and could have further talks with the delegation concerning the steps needed for the advancement of the process should they agree to continue. “If the delegation doesn’t answer, – said Öcalan – I assume this would mean that the process has ended on their part, which would also mean that it would end on our part as well. I am neither hopeful nor hopeless about the process”, he added and yet he assured that he will continue to provide the necessary contribution to the process.

So, whichever way you look at it, it is clear that the ball is on the government’s camp. PM Erdo?an knows it well: it is not a problem of leaving an invisible table. It is a problem of political will on the government side. Political will alone is not enough, though. A process to be meaningful and consistent also requires imagination and creativity. And it requires boldness sometimes. But Erdo?an so far seems to have chosen an attitude where on the one hand he does not move and on the other he threatens and shouts at the other side in the hope to provoke their reaction.

This attitude and especially his shouting and threatening are signs that he is getting nervous. Because he knows that, as there is no table (we go back to square one), the only one to blame if anything happen to the “process” is nobody but himself. Because the onus is on him to provide a table and favourable conditions for Öcalan (to begin with) to be able to fully play his role in the future negotiations.

Who is the greenest ?

On a different issue, namely the protests ongoing in Ankara’s ÖDTÜ campus, again one would smile listening to the PM barking at protesters labelling them (of all things, he definitively has some sense of humour) “egoistical and fascistic”.

Yes, those were the adjectives he used to define those who dare protest against his government’s environmental policies. “It would be greatly unfair to depict us as the enemy of the environment and nature – said the Prime Minister – Those who criticize us are not doing so because of their environmental sensitivities. We and our people see clearly that they all have other intentions”.

Again muddy accusation of some kind of “hidden agenda” on the part of the students. As to the “environmental sensitivities” of the AKP government the list is long: from the destruction of Sulukule to the demolition of Tarlabasi, from Gezi Park to the third bridge in Istanbul, from the destruction of Emek cinema to the dams on the Dicle, to the building of endless non-places like the shopping centres the PM would love to send people to dream of non-lives… clearly after having been to the mosque (possibly the new one he has in mind to destroy Camlica).

And, just to complete the information: have you noticed where Erdo?an delivered his “I-am-the-greenest” speech? Have a guess: at the opening ceremony of a luxury residence and mall. So environmentally friendly.