You should ask the PKK

Turks should not get angry quickly. A person who comes to kill a soldier deserves to die. But I am telling you something else. This growing strife among us is claiming the lives of innocent people. We must do everything to extinguish this fire, not by resorting to security measures alone but by building bridges of fraternity and affection and by taking advantage of the new constitution.

Concerning the settlement of the Kurdish issue, some people appear to side with the truth. They say, "Let the war stop," but they are downright working for the PKK. "Let the state stop the operations," they add, which drives me crazy. Terrorists may come and raid military outposts and kill our soldiers, but security forces should not respond to them or pursue them or launch operations or they will attack again... Is that so?

Among those who purport such arguments are the people who have sincerely worked for the solution of the Kurdish issue. Now, they have turned into the people who fail to protest massacres by the PKK and who cannot condemn violence or terrorism, even half-heartedly. Those who cannot condemn or protest PKK terrorism loudly and who fail to oppose violence have monopolized their conscience. If their conscience still belongs to them, then they should say, "The PKK should lay down arms" or "The Kurdish issue cannot be solved with violence" instead of "Let the war stop."

To offer a solution to the Kurdish issue other than one on the basis of human rights and freedoms, i.e., democratization is to partner with the PKK. It is to endorse an imaginary, fascist Kurdish administration depicted by the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). We are talking about a Kurdish state that is to be established in 21 provinces, including Erzurum, Erzincan, Malatya, Şanlıurfa and Elazığ, where jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan will be head of state and where PKK militants will be security forces and those who voted for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will be tried on charges of treason.

Those who sincerely want the Kurdish issue to be solved should ask the PKK: Why do you continue to use violence and terrorism? Why don't you lay down your arms?

Why does the PKK seek to establish a regime in which Kurds will be made submissive rather than to pursue democratization while the reasonable majority of the country advocate a solution through designing a democratic system based on the rule of law, equality, free elections, a free market and the standards of the European Union? Just ask the PKK.

Why should the reasonable Kurdish majority accept the KCK plan when they know that through it, the PKK is trying to establish a despotic, authoritarian, totalitarian regime, and when they prefer to live together with Turks? Does the PKK really believe that violence can bring a solution? What has it achieved with this method in more than 25 years?

The Kurdish issue, like other problems, can be resolved only by transitioning from the tutelary regime to democratization. Is the pro-PKK Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) unable to see this? Aren't they aware of the fact that the PKK is blocking peaceful, pro-Kurdish policies? The PKK cannot adopt any way other than violence because neighboring countries and big powers who are bothered by the country's brilliant future do not leave any other option to the PKK than resorting to violence.