The village guard system was established in 1985 to fight the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging a bloody war in Turkey’s Southeast since 1984, and involves the state arming villagers.
Analysts say the village guard system has not made any contribution to Turkey’s fight against the PKK but has actually perpetuated PKK terrorism.
Although Sabah’s Emre Aköz does not put all the blame for the Mardin massacre on the village guard system, he says it is high time for Turkey to deal with this system. Referring to a recent statement by Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek that said “Some village guards commit crimes, but the contribution of the village guard system to the fight against the PKK cannot be ignored,” Aköz says he disagrees and that the village guard system is not part of the solution but part of the problem. He explains: “Although it may seem small for people living in cities, the state gives a reasonable salary to the village guards when the circumstances of the region are taken into consideration. We all know that since the 1990s, some village guards have engaged in illegal activities so that they would not be deprived of this money. Many times village guards have killed their enemies and put the blame on the PKK. The village guard system relies on tribes. So this means the tribal system in the region survives thanks to state funds. And tribal leaders and village guards get the best benefits out of this. We have known at least for 15 years that the village guard system is an important tool in drug trafficking.” As such, he says he does not agree with Çiçek because the village guard system is not a successful one. He argues that the village guard system should be abolished as part of efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue. “But state officials do not know how to put the monster in its cage now, though they took it out with their own hands,” Aköz adds.
“There is certainly a good side to every bad event. The Mardin massacre brought the topic of abolishing the village guard system to the agenda, and perhaps this is the good side of this painful incident,” says Bugün’s Gülay Göktürk, who thinks that the village guard system actively hinders counterterrorism efforts, contrary to what officials say. “The idea of establishing such a system was a terrible one from the beginning. It should have been seen that arming a segment of the public and letting them attack the other segment would not help fight terrorism. There could not have been a more separatist, more dangerous idea than to divide the public into two and let them battle each other,” he stresses.
