The timing of the attack has drawn the attention of many as it was carried out just days before Parliament was about to extend the duration of a motion that allows Turkish military forces to carry out cross-border operations in northern Iraq where the PKK enjoys a safe haven. It occurred shortly before the local elections and at a time when Turkey was about to normalize its relations with Iraq. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently paid a visit to the country, and President Abdullah Gül had plans to do so. In addition to these events, a recent Turkish-Kurdish rift in a western province and expectations about the conclusion of a closure case against the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) led to comments that the PKK wants to provoke the Turkish state and wider public, urging them to pursue a harsh policy against and hostility towards Kurds, something which it supposes will legitimize its actions and raison d’être. “Yes, we should be mourning as a whole nation. We should share the pain and mourning of the families of those martyrs. We should render our sorrow bearable by sharing it; however, we should also think about the timing of this attack,” says Bugün’s Gülay Göktürk. She thinks it is meaningful that this attack came shortly before the Constitutional Court was about to decide on whether to close down the DTP. In Göktürk’s view, the PKK wants to corner the DTP with this attack and place it in a difficult situation. “The PKK wants anger felt by the members of the Constitutional Court and the whole of society against the DTP to be rekindled with this attack, urging the court to close down the DTP. In this way, the PKK wants a blockage of politics and to open up a space for itself.” Another point Göktürk draws attention to is the timing of the attack and the fact that it came after ethnic tensions were raised in the western district of Altınova last week between Turks and Kurds. “The PKK sees the ethnic rift in the Aegean as the beginning of hostility between the Turkish and Kurdish peoples, which it has not been able to ignite for 30 years,” says Göktürk, noting that the PKK wants to provoke the Turkish public with such attacks and fuel ethnic tension in other places.
Akşam’s İsmail Küçükkaya also focuses on the timing of the attack and thinks it came at a time when Turkey was taking steps to normalize its relations with Iraq and concentrate on measures, apart from military measures, to cut support to the PKK and win the trust of the public in the Southeast. “The masterminds of this attack want to convey a message. They want things to run to the contrary and urge Turkey to change its policies. The attack is proof that what Turkey has been trying to do to combat the PKK is right,” argues Küçükkaya. He maintains that the PKK wants to prevent Turkey from taking steps to make Kurds’ lives better, adding that it also wants to fuel a Turkish-Kurdish ethnic rift with such attacks.
Sabah’s Emre Aköz finds it interesting that Friday’s attack came shortly before the local elections scheduled for March because the PKK intensified attacks before last year’s general elections as well. According to Aköz, the PKK wants the state to take stricter military measures in the Southeast by carrying out attacks like these and to increase tension there. This will, in Aköz’s view, give trump cards to the hawks on both sides against the supporters of peace and democratization. “They will say no deal can be reached with them; the only thing they understand is fighting,” says Aköz.
