By RUDAW
ISTANBUL, Turkey: Semra Özal is the wife of the former Turkish president Turgut Özal. She was born in 1934 in Istanbul. She was the second wife of Mr. Özal and was with president until the last days of his life. In 1990-92, she served as chairwoman of the Motherland Party (ANAP). In an exclusive and rare interview, Rudaw talked to her about Kurdish question in Turkey as well as her life with former Turkish president Turgut Özal, who passed away in 1993 in a controversial death.
RUDAW: Who is Semra Özal? How did she become the partner of one of the famous presidents of Turkey?
Özal: It is difficult to talk about yourself. I was born in Besiktashi in Istanbul. I finished high school in the same neighborhood. One day, in 1954 we went to Ankara to visit my uncles. There I met Turgut Özal and then we married later on. It was a coincidence. After we got married we continued to live in Ankara, because Turgut was working there.
RUDAW: At that time, did you have kind of relations with Kurds?
Özal: due to my husband’s job, we used to travel across the cities of Anatolia constantly. My husband was an engineer [specialized] in dam constructions. Therefore, we took part in the construction of most of the dams built in Turkey. This required us to stay in different cities for different periods of time.
Back then, when we were traveling all around the Anatolia, the east and southeast, I witnessed what a harsh condition the women were living in. That hurt me. Back then I was working in several NGOs, hospitals and the like, voluntarily in Ankara. But when I saw the women of those areas I told myself these women need help, not those in Ankara.
Then in 1985 I founded an Organization named “Introducing and Strengthening Turkish Women.” Up to now when our ladies going abroad are asked ‘Are you the first wife?’ And many more weird and disturbing questions are asked.
These were not all we were offering. In addition to the health services we offered instructions and guidance to the people. Our work was very productive. Then we moved on, and built some permanent health clinics. One of those clinics is still operating in a poor neighborhood in Diyarbakir. The clinic now offers help to more than two thousand patients on a daily basis. I was proud to be able to help the kids and women of those areas.
Then I realized there were a huge number of married couples who had not documented their marriage in the court. This had left a number of kids without having identity cards of any kind. That was a very hurtful thing, because the husband could just dismiss the wife anytime and the women in that case did not have any rights. They would remain unprotected with their kids. Therefore, I started a campaign for legal documentation of the married couples. In a short period of time, we documented about 30.000 marriages. This made tens of thousands of kids to obtain ID cards. Each family had seven to eight kids. Now if you calculate that you know how many kids benefited from that campaign!
We kept our campaigning in many other countries of the world including America, Japan where we presented the Turkish women’s situations. In Paris we held several exhibitions. We tried to present Turkish women’s abilities. Then we organized a portable exhibition in America and Japan. This awarded me an honor medal from the UNICEF.
The medal then led to receipt of an honorary doctoral certificate from an American university. Despite all these I am still carrying on and would not stop in doing charity works.
RUDAW: You said you had traveled to the Kurdish areas with Turgut Özal, did the Kurdish roots of Turgut Özal have any impacts on your views towards the Kurds?
Özal: We did not segregate between/among Turkey’s different groups and ethnicities. My ancestors are from Istanbul. We never thought of ethnic differences until recently. I have not thought about I am Turkish or Kurdish, we are all human. We were viewing the people in a human prospective. My husband was the same. We had friends from all the different groups. And just so you know, Turgut Özal’s parents were Kurdish. Some other Kurdish key figures had emerged, figures such as the military chief commander and prime minister. Therefore, in the Turkish society I have had friends from all the different groups and ethnicities. I have never differentiated between the people of Turkey.
RUDAW: Turgut Özal tried to solve the Kurdish problem but life did not give him the chance to…
Özal: Turgut Özal was a very intelligent man. He was farsighted. I don’t think there is anyone like him in the world. He was very talented. His thinking and ability were not one of a normal human being. If you remember, in the 1980s, the GAP T.V was established by the state for the first time. Back then, he asked for an hour Kurdish news program in the morning and an hour in the evening. He was saying with this step, we can prevent the negative news that is relied on the Kurdish people from other places. That is why he believed the T.V should have Kurdish news casting.
But unfortunately, the politicians in his time defied this move. They were saying this was not a necessary thing to have! The politicians were wrong. What Özal was doing was necessary. If that step were taken at the time, more steps would have followed by now. Özal was saying language has to be freed. Everybody should be free to listen to the news, read book, sing, and publish newspapers in their own language. He was saying this is not a danger to anyone. Now that Kurdish language and music are allowed, what dangers do they pose? In one of our weddings, Ibrahim Tatlisas with Kanan Ivran sang in Kurdish!
If Özal were alive and if he were not blocked he would have solved the issue step after step. Not only this, he had taken many other important steps in the interest of Turkey. An example is the establishment of three small financial institutions that served this country a lot. These institutions, one of them was dedicated to architecture development. Another to dams and the last one to roads. These institutions were funded by the customs put on the precious goods. This means the funding would not pressure the people nor would it have affected the nation’s financial storage. This would have funded all these roads and dams we see now without hurting the economy. But unfortunately, after Özal when Tanso Ciller came to power, the first thing Chiller did was shutting down these institutions. Özal had many great projects in mind, but he was not given a chance to realize them.
RUDAW: After Mr. Özal’s death, there were many discussions saying that Özal’s death was not a natural death, but rather he was assassinated. What do you say?
Ms.Özal: No, of course it was not a natural death. I assure you 100% that he was killed. He was poisoned. Unfortunately, the evidences, which we found to prove he was murdered, are destroyed. We tried to prove the killing at the court, but the evidences were destroyed/hidden. We did not give up. And will not give up. We will find the truth one day. When Ahmet, my son was a member of the parliament he asked the parliament to form a committee to investigate Özal’s death. But the committee did not do any investigation about the subject. We will not give up.
RUDAW: The Ergenekon issue is now under investigation. And it’s said that everything is going to be investigated, why they are not make a case for Özal’s poisoning, within that framework?
Özal: I do not know about his assassination, but before the assassination there was a failed assassination attempt. I think that one was orchestrated by the Ergenekon. Ahmet, my son, will not give up on that. He is working on it.
RUDAW: As you were Turkey’s first lady, you visited several countries with Turgut Özal. In your visits which country’s first lady was attracting your attention, and did you have any joint works with the other first ladies?
Özal: I went everywhere with Özal. I had relations and joint works with other first ladies. For example, I worked with Nancy Regan’s for two years fighting against drugs. I worked with the Belgium princess for three years. We were working on the future of women in the mountainous regions. Among all the first ladies I met, two of them were very dear to me. Margret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister and Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s Prime Minister. Sadly, Thatcher is currently suffering with dementia and Bhutto was killed. Benazir visited me a few times after the death of Özal. The Spanish princess came to visit me in my home. And when I went to Spain they received me in the presidential palace. I have good relations with all of them who are alive. Especially with the Bush senior’s family. I have a very good relations with them.
RUDAW: Barbara Bush, Bush senior’s wife in her memoirs says Danielle Mitterrand talked about the Kurds to me. Has anybody talked about Kurds to you? Were you discussing politics?
Özal: Barbara was a very good woman. She has a very strong maternity feeling. In fact we were not talking about politics very much. But with Bhutto, we were discussing politics a lot. We were talking about the country. What should be done, and how should it be done. We were discussing the way in which we could co-operate with one another. But not with the other first ladies.
RUDAW: Before Özal’s death you had taken a few steps towards politics but then after his death you gave up. Why did you not carry on his path?
Özal: That is a question that everybody has. I have been often asked why did you not become the chairwoman of the party and carry on? I was in shock. Özal and me were walking and all the sudden he fell on the ground and was dead. Just as simple as that! I was in shock for two years. I cannot remember anything that has happened in those two years. After in the two years, when I realized things, they were already of out our control. In fact back then I did not believe in becoming the chairwoman of the party and thought it was none sense. But later I regretted it. I became the leader of the ANAP, the motherland party, on the insistence of Özal.
When I was the leader of ANAP I was constantly working and collecting votes for ANAP. The results were productive. In the elections we scored a great success. But after the elections I resigned.
RUDAW: As you said, Turgut Özal was very far sighted, and you accompanied him in many of his visits, you knew how he was thinking. Following his death, Turkey fell into a crisis and took a decade to recover. Do you see anyone of the Turkish politicians to be able replace him?
Ms. Özal: As a matter of fact no one has understood Özal, so they cannot be a replacement to him. His Excellency Erdogan talks about Özal’s activities a lot, he respects what Özal had achieved. He is trying to go on Özal’s path. I hope he will be successful and continue on Özal’s path. I don’t see anybody else, apart from Erdogan to be continuing on Özal’s policies. I think Erdogan does. I hope he succeeds.
RUDAW: To speaking about Prime Minister Erdogan, how is your relation with him? I think you and the Turkish current first lady and Erdogan’s wife meet one another’s in social ceremonies?
Özal: I know Abdullah Gul for a long time. He was a consultant of planning in the time of Turgut Özal. And one time he was accompanying Özal to a Muslim conference. I have known him ever since then. We have good relations. When we meet we talk to one another. If I need something I will call him. I have no relation with the president’s wife. But Erdogan and Amine (Ms. Erdogan), we meet very often and talk very often. We invite them, and they invite us. When my son got married, Mrs. Erdogan came to my son’s engagement ceremony. We are very close to Erdogan and his wife. We can understand one another very well.
RUDAW: Huseyin Çelik, deputy chairman of the AK party, says what we have done is un-comparable to what was done in the Özal’s tenure. He says we have done much more. What do you think?
Özal: I disagree. Özal’s works are obvious. Some of his works were not completed and now are under completion. Now those are in office were very close friends to Özal including [Turkish Deputy Prime Minister] Cemil Çiçek and many more.
RUDAW: Do you think that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has the courage of Özal to solve Kurdish question?
Özal: They want to be as courageous as Özal. They will succeed hopefully. But the issue requires a gradual solution. It cannot be solved over night.
RUDAW: Do you think if Özal were still alive, the Kurdish problem would have been solved by now?
Özal: it would have been solved long time ago. Much more would have been accomplished. Let me say this, the world map would have changed, If he were alive. One day before his death, we were on a visit abroad. He had signed an agreement with all the Turkic states to form a Turkish union. He had decided to visit China in six days and announce this union over there. But this was not let to happen. Because there were some people who did not wish to see something like this. If this Turkish union succeeded, the world map would have been changed now. A huge amount of oil and gas would have been in the union. Actually this factor [oil] led to the prevention of creation of the union. Therefore, I believe some international powers poisoned Turgut Özal and killed him.
RUDAW: One of the simplest rights of humans is to study in their mother tongue. Now in Turkey the subject of studying in Kurdish is provoked and the Turkish government does not want to admit that this is the right of the Kurdish people, how do you view this subject?
Özal: I do not understand the purpose of studying in Kurdish. If the purpose is that the kids should learn their mother tongue, there is no any restriction on that anybody can learn Kurdish. It has been set into the education curriculum as a selective lesson. As far as I know, Kurdish language department is to be opened in the universities too.
RUDAW: In the nineties, Kurdish leaders Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani met with Özal. Özal played a big role in the creation of the no fly zone in the Kurdistan region. Were you aware of these things?
Özal: Özal was a close friend of Barzani. When Barzani came to Ankara, I just greeted him. And then they had to go for a formal meeting. But later, after 19 years, Barzani invited me to Erbil. He received me very warmly and we talked to me abut many things. Özal liked Barzani very much. I remember he was repeatedly saying we will not be hurt by him. After my visit and talks with Barzani, I am convinced with what Özal was saying. With Barzani we talked about the past. Barzani respected me so much because of the past relations with Özal.
RUDAW: When Barzani and Talabani came to Ankara, attempts to solve Kurdish problem solving already started, therefore letters were exchanged between Özal and Ocalan. To what extent are you aware of that?
Özal: I have no information about this. I have no information about Ocalan.
RUDAW: Now a ceasefire has been announced by the rebels of the PKK against Turkey, what do you think about that?
Özal: I don’t know much about these sorts of things. But I know war does not solve the issues. Now the government and the state would not engage in direct talks with PKK but there could be a mediating organization. I don’t know if there is or not.
RUDAW: What did you think of the Kurdistan region in your visit?
Özal: I went to Erbil. I think I will go back to Erbil. I think Erbil is becoming a city like the American cities. Erbil is in a fast development. There they respect and trust Turks. I send my greeting to the people of Erbil. Next time if I go there, I will try to meet with those women who are active in the women rights field, so I can help them too. I will surely do some works and activities there.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/turkey/3196.html, 03/10/2010
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