In one such visit, DTP supporters turned the city of Van into a battlefield on Saturday as they set fires and attacked policemen in protest of Erdoğan’s visit. The active role the DTP, a political party elected through democratic means, assumed in these violent protests led many to question whether or not it is a real political party. Radikal’s İsmet Berkan affirms the DTP’s right, as a political party, to protest things that it sees going wrong no matter what the reason for these protests, whether they are the prison conditions of Öcalan or to condemn the government. However, he says that while the DTP can exercise its right to stage protests, it cannot resort to violence. He says this right, known as “the right to hold peaceful marches and demonstrations,” unfortunately leads to the loss of life in Turkey. “The incidents, which escalated over the past few weeks, have changed the DTP -- whether it likes it or not. Yes, what has changed is not the Kurdish problem but the DTP itself. Is this party using violence as a political tool or not? Does it do anything to prevent protestors from using non-peaceful means when police do not grant them permission to hold protests?” asks Berkan. Referring to a photo from the protests in Van where protesting children attacked police, he asks who can claim that those who gathered the children there did so hoping to solve the Kurdish problem. “Did the DTP, which invited those children there, do anything to stop them? Is it possible to continue defending a party when it starts to move away from legitimate grounds,” asks Berkan.
Zaman’s Mustafa Ünal talks about how one of the DTP deputies, Özdal Üçer, urged Erdoğan to not come to Van and said: “Erdoğan’s trip to Van is like Ariel Sharon’s trip to the al-Aqsa Mosque. Erdoğan will be responsible for all the incidents that emerge during his trip. He terms these remarks unacceptable, dangerous and not befitting the deputy of a legitimate political party. “Will the DTP solve the region’s problems this way? I don’t know whether or not it is aware of it, but the DTP no longer acts as a political party. Those who say the DTP should be given a chance in politics despite all its mistakes also have difficulty understanding the politics pursued by the DTP,” Ünal says.
Sabah’s Ergun Babahan is also very critical of the DTP over its role in the recent escalation of tension and DTP deputy Üçer’s warning to Erdoğan. “The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey, no matter who or from what party he is, can go to every corner of this country and hold meetings wherever he wants. This holds true for all political party leaders,” he says. Babahan suggests that members and representatives of a political party who were elected through democratic means have to pay utmost attention to their use of language and style. In this respect, he calls on the DTP, which has put aside being sensitive in its style presumably because of the approaching local elections, to cease igniting violence.
