The "Negro" Question in the USA, the Kurdish Question in Turkey

Dear Readers:

When you first read the title, you might ask yourself what connection there is between the "Negro" Question in the USA and the Kurdish Question in Turkey. Undoubtedly, both issues have different historical development processes and social dynamics in many respects.

However, there is one characteristic that both issues share: the USA and Turkey, at a certain level of their economic development, while opening the door to a welfare society, confronted these problems. They realized that they could not truly achieve a welfare society without overcoming these issues, which were buried deep in centuries of history, and thus began to search for solutions.

It was during this search process that similar social resistances and subsequent events developed in the USA and Turkey. The purpose of this article is to highlight this similarity and to bring an interesting psycho-sociological reaction to your attention.

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First, I would like to describe the psychological factor:

In the individual or social sphere, we can suddenly, unexpectedly, encounter situations that seem impossible to escape.

If the problem is at an individual level, instead of daring to face reality, we might even contemplate suicide to escape this dilemma, this great (!) trouble. Although the feeling of "insolubility" is a temporary mental block, unfortunately, we often succumb to this spiral and complex internal impulse, and perhaps even commit suicide.

If the dilemma is at a societal level, this time we exhibit another reaction: denial or assassination.

Political figures determined to overcome the "Negro" Question in the USA and the Kurdish Question in Turkey, which emerged as obstacles to a welfare society, instead of accepting the long-suppressed and denied problem, fall into a meaningless sense of guilt by denying the existing reality, and in this psychological struggle, resort to a ruthless method as a way out: assassinations.

THE USA OF THE 1960s

The USA emerged victorious from the Second World War. The British Empire, which ruled the world, dissolved, and in its place, the USA was now the greatest power in the world. It seized natural resources, trade routes, and military bases around the world. US products dominated world markets. Prosperity and wealth rapidly increased in the country. The country became rich, but there was a serious obstacle to social development: this was Segregation, or racial discrimination. Without overcoming this problem, prosperity and wealth had no meaning.

By the 1960s, due to segregation, blacks and whites in the USA had two different lifestyles, separated from each other.

We can summarize racial discrimination, or segregation, which paralyzed public life in those years, as follows:

EDUCATION: Racial discrimination in schools was widespread. Blacks attended separate, inadequate, and often substandard schools compared to their white peers.

TRANSPORTATION: Discrimination was practiced in public transportation, especially on buses and trains, where separate seating areas were designated for white and black passengers. This practice led to events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-1956, which became a turning point for the civil rights movement.

PUBLIC FACILITIES: Racial discrimination was common in public facilities such as restaurants, water fountains, swimming pools, parks, and other recreational areas, where there were separate facilities for whites and blacks.

HOUSING: Discriminatory practices in housing, such as redlining and restrictive covenants, limited the ability of blacks to settle in certain neighborhoods, leading to the formation of segregated neighborhoods. Blacks often faced inadequate housing conditions and had limited access to resources.

EMPLOYMENT: Blacks were excluded from job opportunities and subjected to discrimination in hiring practices. They were often stuck in second-class and low-wage jobs. Career advancement opportunities were limited.

VOTING RIGHTS: In the Southern States, blacks did not have the right to vote. In other states, blacks were deprived of their voting rights by various methods such as taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation, and could not vote in many places across the country.

LEGAL SYSTEM AND JUSTICE: Racial discrimination was evident in the justice system. Blacks faced prejudice and discrimination in courts, law enforcement, and penal practices.

ENTERTAINMENT AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES: Discrimination was practiced in movie theaters, restaurants, hotels, and other entertainment venues, where there were separate seating areas, entrances, and services for different races.

JOHN F. KENNEDY'S ADMINISTRATION

When John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1961, he set as his primary goal to end discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, or nationality, which was deeply rooted in society. Although the Supreme Court had ended discrimination in schools with a law it passed in 1954, this decision was not implemented anywhere.

Blacks were trying to escalate their resistance struggle, adhering either to Islamic or Christian values.

Elijah Muhammad

Elijah Muhammad was an important black Muslim leader. He was the founder of a political and religious movement called The Nation of Islam. The organization's goal was to ensure solidarity among blacks and to pave the way for the emergence of independent institutions that would be self-sufficient.

Elijah Muhammad's teachings became influential, and blacks opened their own businesses and schools. A chain of supermarkets where only black Muslims shopped was established. Schools provided education only to Muslim blacks. Elijah Muhammad created a strong ideology advocating for the superiority of the black race, the rejection of integration with white society, and the establishment of a separate state for blacks.

Elijah Muhammad was the teacher of the famous human rights advocate Malcolm X. The famous boxer Muhammad Ali also joined the organization in the early 1960s and became a student of Elijah Muhammad. He changed his name from "Cassius Clay" to "Muhammad Ali."

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Some blacks also organized a resistance, adhering to the Christian faith. The most prominent among them was Martin Luther King. He founded a Christian organization called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The SCLC played an important role in the civil rights movement in the USA.

The SCLC coordinated peaceful protests and civil rights actions, especially in the southern states of the USA. It advocated for the right to vote and the struggle for equality. It organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-56 and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in the capital in 1963.

KU KLUX KLAN (KKK)

Ku Klux Klan members marching

As blacks organized and gained strength within the Christian and Islamic religions, White Racists also became active. The illegal White Racist organization called the Ku Klux Klan, founded on December 24, 1865, and silent for many years, regained strength. They began attacks against blacks.

A powerful event was rapidly spreading across the USA. In February 1960, two black students started a sit-in because they were not allowed to eat in the same cafeteria as whites. This seemingly small and insignificant action quickly spread to all universities in the USA. Fifty thousand students in 65 cities across 12 different states supported this action and started sit-ins.

As Kennedy continued his presidential campaign, the most pressing issue he faced was racial discrimination. A few weeks before the elections, Martin Luther King was arrested in Atlanta. Kennedy called Martin Luther King's wife on the phone and expressed his sorrow. Kennedy's brother, Robert Kennedy, intervened and secured Martin Luther King's release. Due to this stance of the Kennedy family, 70% of blacks cast their votes for Kennedy in the elections. Thanks to this support from blacks, Kennedy won the election, which he had been neck and neck with Nixon.

Kennedy was determined to take serious steps on human rights and civil rights, but on the other hand, he faced the deeply rooted racist white mentality of centuries. He appointed blacks to senior management positions. He established the Human Rights Commission. He specifically assigned his vice president, Lyndon Johnson, to end discrimination in schools and workplaces. His brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, also initiated a special study on voting rights.

Kennedy was aware of a reality: a rich and growing USA could not truly become a welfare society without solving the "Negro" problem. Although he initially hesitated, knowing that he would face the reaction and resistance of White Racists, called "White Supremacists," who expressed themselves through the KKK organization, he decided that steps needed to be taken in this direction.

With Kennedy becoming President, blacks organized various resistances across the country. Most of the protests ended in death.

In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King and his friends led mass actions in Alabama. Martin Luther King was arrested. His writing, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," penned in prison, became the manifesto of blacks in the USA. Black youth took to the streets. Thousands of young people were arrested. TV, which was a part of daily life, broadcast the protests live, bringing the seriousness of the event to every home in the USA.

Kennedy now believed that a comprehensive Civil Rights Act needed to be passed. On the other hand, governors of states like Alabama continued to organize Racist Whites against the Civil Rights resistance of blacks with slogans like "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."

Martin Luther King and his friends decided to hold a large march in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. President Kennedy was concerned about this march taking place before the Civil Rights and Human Rights Act was passed. He believed that the black march would end in incidents, and thus the Racist White lobbies would use this as an excuse to show counter-resistance, making it harder to pass the law. What was feared did not happen. The large rally, attended by 250,000 people, ended with Martin Luther King's famous speech, "I Have a Dream."

Martin Luther King at the demonstration in Washington

White Racists decided that Kennedy, who was determined to solve the Negro Problem, had to be killed. On November 22, 1963, an assassination attempt was made on Kennedy in Dallas. White Racists organized within the FBI reached out to Lee Harvey Oswald, who was deeply committed to communist ideology, had even fled to the Soviet Union in 1959 for it, married a Russian woman in Minsk, became disillusioned, and returned to the USA with his wife and child in 1962, to divert suspicion. Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated Kennedy. Thus, the impression was created that the Soviet Union was behind Kennedy's assassination.

After Kennedy's death, his vice president, Lyndon Johnson, became the President of the USA. His first act, together with Robert Kennedy, was to pass the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964. Lyndon Johnson ran for President in the 1964 elections and was elected with the highest vote percentage in US history. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson then passed the Voting Rights Act. Racist Whites were angry. They were seeking revenge. Lyndon Johnson was under extraordinary protection.

Realizing that they could not kill Lyndon Johnson, Racist Whites assassinated the famous black human rights advocate Malcolm X on February 21, 1965. The FBI had its agents within the Elijah Muhammad movement carry out this killing. Malcolm X, who had recently parted ways with Elijah Muhammad, was made to appear as if he had been killed by Elijah Muhammad.

Black Muslim leader Malcolm X

Martin Luther King traveled from state to state, city to city, participating in rallies and marches organized by blacks. White Racists deeply rooted within the FBI this time assigned a man named James Earl Ray, whose life had been spent in and out of prison. Martin Luther King was assassinated with a rifle from a motel where he was staying in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had come to participate in a march. James Earl Ray, immediately after the assassination, fled first to Canada and then to England with a fake passport provided by the FBI. He was caught and brought back to the USA. White Racists thus achieved their third target.

Robert Kennedy

It was Robert Kennedy's turn. Robert Kennedy, who was a Democratic Party candidate in the 1968 elections, was killed by a Christian Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan during a speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. White Racists within the FBI were successful in concealing their true identities this time as well. Allegedly, Sirhan Sirhan killed Robert Kennedy because he said, "If I am elected, I will provide aircraft aid to Israel." However, it would soon be understood that this had no connection to reality.

In short, in the 1960s, American white and black human rights advocates determined to solve the Negro Problem paid the price with their lives. After four major assassinations between 1963 and 1968, which deeply affected American society, American White Racists gradually began to adopt a more moderate stance on the Negro Problem.

TURKEY AND THE KURDISH QUESTION

For many years, Turkish-origin politicians stubbornly kept their distance from the Kurdish Question. The Kurdish Question, which began with the "49ers incident" in 1959 and continued uninterrupted until the 1980 Military Coup, failed to find supporters among Turkish politicians and remained limited to the programs of marginal Kurdish organizations and parties. The Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) included the Kurdish Question in its party program at its 4th Grand Congress held in Ankara between October 29-31, 1970. Anti-Kurdish circles, disturbed by this situation, intervened with the March 12, 1971 Military Coup.

In Bülent Ecevit's rallies in 1976 and 1977, the slogan "Kurdara Azadî (Freedom for Kurds)" began to be heard frequently. Just as there were Racist Whites like the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) nested within the FBI in the USA, similar formations in Turkey, nested within MIT (National Intelligence Organization) and the Army, calling themselves Ergenekon/Counter-Guerrilla/JITEM, began to feel uncomfortable with the voicing of Kurdish rights.

On May 28, 1977, an assassination attempt was made on Bülent Ecevit at Çiğli Airport. Shots were fired at Ecevit's vehicle, and his driver died. After this incident, Ecevit vehemently opposed the groups shouting "Kurdara Azadî" at rallies. This assassination was also an implicit threat message from Ergenekon/Counter-Guerrilla to Turkish politicians.

Bülent Ecevit                           Bülent Ecevit, after the Çiğli assassination

From the 1990s onwards, the Turkish economy grew rapidly. President Turgut Özal believed that the Kurdish Question needed to be resolved for Turkey to grow further.

Turgut Özal made various statements and pursued policies regarding Turkey's Kurdish question. Özal adopted a more constructive approach to solving the Kurdish question and advocated for taking various steps regarding the rights of Kurds.

During Özal's era, some steps were taken to give more importance to the identity and cultural rights of Kurds in Turkey. Özal stated that restrictions on the use of Kurdish should be lifted and steps should be taken regarding the right of Kurds to education in their mother tongue. He also emphasized that the Kurdish question should be addressed through political and democratic solutions, not through violence.

Ergenekon/Counter-Guerrilla believed that Turgut Özal, like Kennedy, needed to be silenced, and caused his death through an assassination (April 17, 1993) in a way that would not arouse suspicion.

Just as American whites felt guilty in the face of the rising freedom rights of blacks and condoned assassinations to escape this feeling, similarly, the anti-Kurdish political structure in Turkey felt uncomfortable with the voicing of Kurdish rights and hoped to escape centuries of guilt and conscience through assassinations.

General Eşref Bitlis, the Commander of the Gendarmerie General Command, whom Turgut Özal wanted to see as the future Chief of General Staff and who offered a different perspective on the Kurdish Question, was eliminated in an assassination disguised as a plane crash.

Eşref Bitlis

Adnan Kahveci, one of Turgut Özal's protégés, who penned the most comprehensive Kurdish Report in the history of the Republic, also fell victim to an assassination disguised as a car accident.

Adnan Kahveci

Just as black rights advocates Malcolm X and Martin Luther King fell victim to assassinations by the KKK organization and White Racists in the USA, similarly in Turkey, lawyers Yusuf Ziya Ekinci (February 24, 1994), Medet Serhat (November 12, 1994), Faik Candan (December 14, 1994), Tahir Elçi (November 28, 2015) and many others were eliminated by assassination by the Turkish version of the KKK organization or organizations.

From left to right: Lawyer Faik Candan, Lawyer Medet Serhat, Lawyer Tahir Elçi, Lawyer Yusuf Ziya Ekinci

CONCLUSION

In the 1960s, when Negro rights were irresistibly on the rise, White Racists in the USA hoped to prevent these rights with four significant assassinations. It would take 50 years for whites to respect the rights and social integration of blacks. When a Black man named Barack Obama was elected President of the USA between 2009 and 2017, the Negro Question was, in a sense, resolved.

Turkey is also slowly progressing along the same path, despite assassinations and obstructions. The unique resolution of the Kurdish Question may take time, but it will inevitably happen.