When war and peace are mentioned, the first person that comes to mind is the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and his novel of the same title, a cornerstone of world literature. In this work, Tolstoy renders war and peace with striking realism. World history, after all, is also a history of wars — and, inevitably, a history of peace.
THOSE WHO FIGHT MAKE PEACE
So who fights, and who makes peace? The answer is simple: those who fight are the ones who make peace. You make peace with the one you have fought. Because peace is not like resolving quarrels among family members, friends, or lovers. There is blood involved. That is why peace does not come by merely saying “let us reconcile.” Peace may, in fact, be more difficult and more painful than war.
Until quite recently, Turkey witnessed large-scale and bloody family vendettas known as “blood feuds.” Even in such cases, peace was not easily achieved. There is also the notion of “blood money,” whereby, after an unintentional killing, peace may be reached through compensation paid by the killer to the victim’s family. Turkey is not, in fact, an especially peaceful country.
In these lands, many people name their children “war.” But, of course, there are also those named “peace.” War is not merely the product of sadistic impulses; it is profoundly realistic and ruthless. For this reason, peace is extremely difficult and arduous. Turkey is still navigating the peace process that began with the call of MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli and it must be viewed in light of these realities.
BAKIRHAN’S CRITICAL ROLE
As DEM Co-Chair, Tuncer Bakırhan occupies one of the most critical positions within this tide between war and peace. Over the past few days, he has inevitably been grappling with Syria-centered clashes. The events are so sensitive that the process has become a kind of Schrodinger’s cat: “Alive, or Dead?” This, too, is inherent in the nature of war and peace.
Bakırhan is a figure who has held nearly every position since the Kurdish political movement legally entered the national stage. He is a politician from Kars. He also served as mayor in Siirt until a trustee was appointed in his place. Before DEM, he was the chair of DEHAP, one of the movement’s predecessor parties.
Doing politics within DEM requires many skills at once. At times, diplomacy comes to the fore; at other times, harshness does. Indeed, Bakırhan recently responded to Bahçeli — who said that “everything in Syria must be cleaned up and dried out” — by asking, “Are you a dry cleaner?” Bakırhan and his colleagues now face a test of protecting both their party and the peace process under sustained political pressure from the government.
EITHER / OR
Peace is extremely difficult and profoundly critical. Bakırhan — and all of Turkey — is discovering that fact: fear, hope, victory, defeat… a multitude of emotions and ebbs and flows. In the lines written by the great poet Nazım Hikmet against the atomic bomb, we can see what a test of humanity peace is:
“We are racing against ourselves, my love.
Either we will carry life to dead stars,
Or death will descend upon our world.”
