The recent increase of PKK attacks on civilians, many commentators say, indicates that the terrorist organization is in its death throes and that it is high time for Turkey to deal it a final blow by taking courageous steps toward its eradication.Bugün columnist Gülay Göktürk, raising the question that inevitably occurs to one’s mind in the wake of such an attack, “How on earth could the PKK hit civilians in a city that is largely populated by the people whose rights it claims to defend?” explains that this question actually has no reasonable answer because the PKK has lost its sense of reason and frantically attacks places without making any calculations and without heeding who it is hitting. Göktürk indicates that the PKK carries out such attacks in retaliation for TSK attacks on its targets and in an attempt to send a message to its sympathizers about its strength. Yet she believes that PKK’s messages no longer have any significance, claiming that its attacks give just the opposite message to the entire world. “Everybody sees that the PKK, which has become barbarous enough to hit students, is in the process of being eliminated. Regardless of whether the PKK makes all the big cities bleed and bombs even kindergartens, it has come to the end of the road and has entered the process of being eradicated. She claims that this recent PKK attack will further undermine the support of the PKK’s grass roots in the Southeast, that it will further distance the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) from the PKK, strengthen the opponents of violence within the DTP and lead to the PKK’s isolation in the international arena even further.
Sabah’s Mahmut Övür, running out of patience over deadly PKK attacks, says that it is high time for Turkey to go beyond condemning the PKK attacks and find a permanent solution that will eradicate terrorism. Reviewing similar cases in the world like that of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a terrorist organization that recently laid down its weapons in the UK, and ETA, another terrorist organization that used to be active in Spain until recently, Övür claims that just like Britain and Spain, Turkey could also produce its own solution for terrorism and send the PKK terrorism into history’s trash can. “As long as we do not put our own solution into practice, we cannot eliminate the base that nourishes terrorism. All that matters is that we are not yet ready to talk about the ‘solution,’ whatever it may be. We are afraid of it,” he acknowledges. In Övür’s view neither the state nor the government or any of the influential political parties in Turkey have a proposal for the settlement of the Kurdish problem, largely due to these fears. “We have to start, anyhow. What are we still waiting for? A single thing: civilian political proposals for the eradication of the PKK’s social base. It is the politicians’ turn now. At least, we have to debate it. Is this more difficult than watching the massacre of innocent civilians?” he asks.
Yeni Şafak’s Kürşat Bumin says the PKK has confirmed its designation as a terrorist organization in line with the international definition as its recent attack in Diyarbakır hit civilians, drawing strong condemnation from the international community. Hence, he expects that the DTP, which immediately condemned the Diyarbakır attack, may declare the PKK a “terrorist organization” independent of the intense pressure on it from other political parties to do so. “You may find such an expectation very optimistic or even naive, but that’s my prediction,” he remarks. The DTP has so far resisted calls to declare the PKK a terrorist organization.
