The Diyarbakir of today is a far cry from the strife-ridden city of the 1990s, where the military’s fight against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was at its peak. Although it still remains underdeveloped, its streets are blooming with people, new businesses, coffee shops and just plain liveliness. The riot vans are still parked in the city center, but people walk around without any signs of tension or unrest.

“I remember the meeting we had with the late Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit at the Prime Ministry,” Sahismail Bedirhanoglu, the president of the Southeastern Industrialists and Businessmen Association (GUNSIAD), told Al-Monitor in Diyarbakir. “He was telling us that the problem of the region was all about economic reasons. He believed that if the region could be economically developed, and if the people could find satisfactory employment opportunities, the Kurdish issue would automatically resolve itself.” He added, “That was the mistake of the old Turkey. They did not understand the fact that even if you raise the economic standards of the Kurds to the highest economic standards possible, this issue won’t get resolved before Kurds are recognized as a nation, with their own language and the right to govern themselves.”

In Diyarbakir, Bedirhanoglu is a highly respected person. The family has a long history embedded in Kurdish nationalism. “I have always lived here, just like my grandfather, and his grandfather,” he said. His family roots are also partly the reason why he was chosen by the government to be the leading engine in putting together a contact group aimed at fostering dialogue on the Kurdish issue.

“The region’s underdeveloped nature created an easy excuse for people to go up the mountains and join the PKK, but this was not the whole story,” he told Al-Monitor. “It was not only the poor who sided with the PKK, but also the sons and daughters of many wealthy Kurdish families took arms with them. They had a purpose, and they had a mission. Without their violent rebellion against the many previous Ankara governments, the state would never have had to really register that they have a clear demand.” He added, “This should not mean a breakaway from the country, but there is certainly a desire to re-establish the republic under a more autonomous, or federal system.”