The party, which has so far sparked harsh criticism for its refusal to declare the PKK a terrorist organization, has drawn nothing more than ire with this statement, with many commentators urging it to take action to stop the PKK’s use of violence instead of defending its acts.Stressing that Turkey’s cross-border operation is not carried out against an innocent power but against the PKK, which has been attacking Turkey for many years, Radikal’s Türker Alkan finds it very strange for DTP deputies to think about acting as live shields to stop Turkish operations because Turkey is defending itself with these operations, which have been approved by the states of the world. “Why did they not act as live bombs when the PKK was attacking Turkey, or what would they say if hundreds of people were killed in a bomb explosion organized by the PKK in the İstanbul metro?” asks Alkan, referring to a recent foiled bomb attack in İstanbul. Pointing to a statement made by Fatma Kurtulan, a DTP deputy who acknowledged that the PKK is an armed organization that resorts to violence, he comments that this is more or less declaring the PKK a terrorist organization. “I do not know how many DTP deputies will approve this statement, but if the DTP thinks the same way, what it should do is force the PKK to lay down its weapons and engage in politics instead of acting as live shields. For the DTP’s frequent argument that it cannot take a side against the PKK because its grassroots are the same as those of the PKK, Alkan harshly criticizes such an approach saying: “Such an excuse is unacceptable. A political party should certainly listen to the public. But it should at the same time be able to act as a leader for the public and open up new horizons. Could engaging in politics be based on repeating mistakes?” he asks.
Another columnist for the daily, Tarhan Erdem, talks about a written DTP statement that was released on Wednesday declaring the PKK “a political organization that seeks a solution for the Kurdish problem” and claims that with this statement the DTP seems to have sided with the terror organization instead of with democracy. “What the DTP should do now is take a stance against this statement and say that the solution to the Kurdish problem is not in the mountains but in Parliament. I cannot think about the alternative,” remarks Erdem.
Vatan daily’s Okay Gönensin criticizes the DTP for failing to adopt a clear stance. “Since it is unacceptable for a political party to act as the mouthpiece of an illegal organization, this road is closed. There could be some in the DTP ranks who have chosen to walk this road, but it is impossible for them to engage in politics on a legal platform,” he says. Pointing to the party’s self-definition as being a “left-wing” and “democrat” party, Gönensin claims that the party’s daily policies show they are actually shaped on a nationalist basis. The fact that the DTP only talks about a single subject, the Kurdish issue, he says, makes it hard for it to become a “country party” no matter how important the issue it is talking about. “Since that single issue has an ethnic feature, the DTP is inevitably spinning around Kurdish nationalism. What is expected from the DTP is obvious. Whichever road it chooses to walk, it will not have any political weight or prestige among the public as long as it does not do its best to urge the PKK to lay down its weapons.”
