News and Comment

What do the Recent Events Mean?

News:

Noting that operations will last until the region is cleared, President Erdogan said, 'you will disappear into those trenches that you dug'. (Source: News Agencies)

Comment:

On the order of the government, a big operation especially in the Sur district of Diyarbakır and the Silopi and Cizre districts of Sirnak has been launched by security forces in order to fill trenches dug up by PKK. However, as security forces fell short, the army had to intervene in these operations. But, for how long will this situation last? Not only that this is hard to tell; in my opinion, it is within probability that these events might hold on for as long the Syrian events hold on. Therefore it is insufficient to evaluate these latest events independently from the latest developments in Syria. In the light of these events, it is possible to say the following:

1. The first step related to solving the Kurdish problem, which is an American plan, was set during the Oslo process. However, after contents of the meeting leaked to the press, the Government initiated the Khabour initiative by allowing some of the armed PKK elements from Kandil to enter Turkey, with the aim of ensuring social peace. But as this attempt of the Government failed too, the issue was set a side for a while. Until; the Syrian revolution broke out...

2. After the outbreak of the Syrian revolution the issue was put back on the agenda in order to allow through armed PKK elements to Syria with the aim of fighting some sincere Muslim groups which the Syrian regime was unable to cope with. Correspondingly a small number of armed PKK elements within Turkish territory retreated.

3. However stating that this number was insufficient, the then Prime Minister Erdogan demanded all armed elements to leave Turkey. Furthermore, in March 2013, Öcalan, who is imprisoned in Imralı, published a message in which he expressed that 'the period of armed struggle came to an end" and that "the struggle had to continue on a democratic level". Yet despite all this, the PKK elements within the Turkish soils did not leave Turkey thus following the orders of Kandil and rebuting Ocalan's call.

4. It is known that Ocalan has influence upon the people of the East and Southeast. In spite of this his influence upon Kandil as well as upon armed groups is quite limited. Whereas Kandil, through the person of Cemil Bayık, has no influence upon the people, but upon the armed groups. Therefore it is these armed groups who keep up the struggle against the government. Alongside this Bayık's call for 'serhildan' (uprising), was not met with big favour among the people. And this shows us that Imralı (american-side) and Kandil (british-side) have different views of the problem's solution.

5. So there are two different structures within the PKK, whereby both the retreats together with the recent trench digging, as well as the escalation of violence confirm the above statements. Indeed Bayık said, "This year will be the final year'' and in another interview he stated, "it is neither Ocalan nor the HDP who decide on the withdrawal of the armed forces from Turkey. It is only upon us to decide this.''

6. If the people in the East and Southeast had supported Bayık's call for ‘serhildan’ (uprising) seriously, then the AKP would have ended in a very difficult situation. Because being inspired from some developments in Syria, the PKK intended to realize the same thing in this region. Just like the PYD set up cantons in Northern Syria, PKK aimed at announcing a kind of self-government in these regions.

7. It is known that the colonial kuffar, in particular America and Britain, are pursuing their political battles over Turkey. The Britons want to corner the Government in domestic politics and its Syria politics, through nourishing and provoking these incidents. Because, as long as these events hold on, the government will spend a large portion of its energy in appeasing these events and will be forced to limit its Syria policy. Thus, engrossing Turkey with such events will prevent Turkey of taking a more active role in Syria. And as to America or the Government, they will exploit these incidents according to their own interests and will take other steps to solve this problem. In fact, the Government frightened the people prior to the November 1 elections with 'white Taurus', and social and economic instability and thereby gained almost 50% of votes and came to power alone again.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

Yılmaz ÇELİK