Habertürk's Fatih Altaylı says there is only one way to find a solution to this problem and that is to transfer outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence on a prison island in the Sea of Marmara, to a normal prison and offering general amnesty to all PKK members unconditionally. “Everyone who follows PKK-affiliated media outlets or speaks with members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party [DTP] knows this. Without these being realized, the PKK will not leave the mountains. And the next step would be them demanding a pardon for PKK leader Öcalan,” he argues, noting that although this demand will not be voiced immediately, it will emerge sooner or later. In Altaylı's view, a solution is not possible without these steps. As for whether Turkey is ready to accept such a solution, he says he has serious doubts about this because he does not believe that any politicians in Turkey other than those of the DTP are prepared pay the political and social costs of such moves. “If you say, ‘good things will happen regarding the Kurdish problem,' then you must accept these conditions,” says Altaylı.Indicating that everyone talks about different solutions to the Kurdish problem, Milliyet's Fikret Bila notes that the state and the terrorist PKK each define the problem in their own way. As for the solution to this problem, he thinks the Turkish Republic will either accept the PKK and DTP's demand for autonomy for Kurds, providing them a constitutional guaranty to this end, or Kurdish citizens will be allowed to enjoy their ethnic and cultural differences on the individual level but will voluntarily feel committed to the “Turkish nation” as a supra-identity. “The first option is the PKK and DTP's means for the solution while the second option is the state's solution,” he explains. In his view, it is far from realistic for the Turkish Republic to grant autonomy to the Southeast under a constitutional guarantee, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cannot take such a risk or make such a decision alone. He notes, however, that the PKK and DTP will not give up on their demands for autonomy easily. “The establishment of Kurdish institutions, the restoration of the Kurdish names of places and the official use of Kurdish in municipalities will all be gains for the PKK, but these will not convince the PKK to lay down its weapons and leave the mountains. This is the character of separatist movements,” contends Bila.
According to Star's İbrahim Kiras, it is not possible for the state to eliminate the PKK in one move because the terrorist organization is not homogenous, is not under the control of a single power and, most importantly, has popular support. Because of this, Kiras believes that as the state takes measures to bring PKK members down from the mountains, it will also need to take strong steps for the elimination of the PKK's popular support.
