The commonly held view suggests that it is high time for Turkey to take the necessary steps to solve the Kurdish problem through politics. Sabah's Mahmut Övür complains that although ways to settle the Kurdish problem are discussed extensively following PKK attacks, the issue is always shelved after a short while. He says a similar process is taking place in Turkey again following last week's attacks. In his view, everyone, including opinion leaders, media outlets and politicians, is searching for the answer to the same question: Who will take the first step to launch the solution process for the Kurdish problem. According to Övür, there are two parties involved in this issue, the state and the PKK. Övür stresses that the state has no intention to take the PKK, which uses violence as a political tool, as an interlocutor, because the military, which has been fighting against the PKK in the region for years, proposes only one way for a solution: eradicating the PKK. "Nevertheless, the PKK will not be eradicated for years. The state authorities propose changing the feudal structure in the region as well as improving education and struggling against unemployment and poverty. These issues are neglected; the state does not take any steps to resolve them. This is the point where we get stuck. If these problems are solved, perhaps the Kurdish problem will be removed from the axis of violence and put where it can be discussed on a democratic ground," says Övür.
"We should immediately take the necessary steps to settle the Kurdish problem through concrete politics and make a program for this," says Bugün's Gülay Göktürk, stressing the urgency of the issue. She warns that if Turkey fails to take concrete steps to settle this problem through politics, it will become a cliché, as it has been repeated for years. It will lose its meaning and be like a riddle politicians utter just because they have to say something. "We all know that Turkey has to undergo a fundamental, permanent and radical paradigm change in the state and in society. The paradigm that needs to change is the nation-state paradigm or, more correctly, the stricter version implemented in Turkey. This is a major change and is not something that can happen tomorrow," Göktürk writes.
Milliyet's Hasan Cemal objects to increasing calls from some segments of society for the changing of laws to wage a more effective war against terrorism. "The laws have never been an obstacle in the fight against the PKK and terrorism in this country," he maintains, arguing that such an approach is very outdated. Cemal believes that if Turkey really wants to draw up a roadmap for the fight against terrorism, it should abandon such outdated methods. "We have listened to these songs many times. It's high time to sing a new song. We should develop an atmosphere in which there is no Turkish-Kurdish conflict in the country. The government should adopt a clear attitude on this," Cemal suggests.
