Demonstrations final PKK trump card against initiative

Security and terrorism analysts have increased their calls for common sense after two protestors died and seven others were wounded in the Bulanık district of Muş on Tuesday when a store owner opened fire on DTP demonstrators. “The PKK is playing its trump card now that it is being rooted out. The terrorist organization is focused on violent demonstrations in cities. What is behind these demonstrations is the Kurdish Democratic Confederation [KCK],” stated Aytekin Geleri, a security and terrorism expert. The KCK is the urban arm of the terrorist PKK.

For the past two weeks, Turkey has been rattled by street protests, which first aimed to criticize moving jailed PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, to a new prison cell but later turned to protests over the closure of the DTP. “Both the KCK and deep powers within the state are warning the state and saying they are not finished yet,” Geleri added.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government began its determined effort to settle the Kurdish question peacefully and without resorting to military means in the summer. The move is aimed at thawing the ice between the state and Kurdish citizens in Turkey.

“Street demonstrations aim to upset efforts for a civilian solution to the Kurdish question and the normalization of relations in society. They can also be interpreted as efforts to prompt the declaration of a state of emergency,” remarked Ertan Beşe, an academic at the Police Academy. The demonstrations in eastern Turkey turned bloody on Tuesday when protestors marching down a main street in Muş started stoning businesses and banks.

The owner of a haberdashery, whose store was attacked and his car set on fire, opened fire on the crowd. Two protestors were killed while seven others were wounded.

“People are trying to punish the provocateurs themselves. However, we should be acting with common sense now more than ever. The powers behind the incidents are seeking new political and social policies. They are working to lay the foundations for these policies. The stance we will adopt in the face of acts of provocation will determine the fate of these policies,” Beşe added.

According to İdris Bal, chairman of the Ankara Global Research Center, Turkey is once again experiencing what it did in the past. “The PKK is on the streets to provoke citizens. People have started to think that every protestor is a member of the PKK. This is very dangerous. Security forces should find an adequate way to deal with protestors who harm shopkeepers and citizens,” he noted.

Muş killings boost fears over state of emergency

The killings of two protestors in eastern Muş by an anxious shopkeeper may stand as a turning point and strengthen the hand of those who want a state of emergency to be declared in the region, experts said.

On Tuesday, several thousand people gathered during a demonstration in the Bulanık district to protest against the closure of the DTP by the Constitutional Court. Some shopkeepers shut their businesses to protect their property from the violent demonstrators. The owners of the businesses that remained open, however, failed to protect their premises as the crowd attacked them with stones. One of the shopkeepers, Turan Bilen, opened fire on the crowd with a Kalashnikov when protestors threw stones at the windows of his haberdashery and set fire to his vehicle. Two of the protestors were killed and seven others were wounded in the shooting.  After the incident, many prominent figures in eastern and southeastern Turkey called for common sense in order to prevent further incidents in the region.

Sabahattin Göçmen, chairman of the Muş Bar Association, claimed that there are some shady aspects to the incident. “The police were informed that some shops had not closed, but they did not take any security measures for the shops that were open. Secondly, the authorities are not sure from which direction the shots came. Thirdly, there was at least an hour between the first shooting, which killed one person, and the second shooting, which killed the other person,” Göçmen told Today’s Zaman.

Göçmen also claimed that Bilen’s weapon was one of many given to village guards in the city. The village guard system was established in 1985 to fight against terrorism and involves the state arming villagers.

Sırrı Sakık, the Muş deputy of the now-defunct DTP, also claimed that officials in his party had issued warnings before the demonstration about Bilen, who was known for his acts of provocation in the past. “This person has a Kalashnikov; he was always provocative, and we think he would not have dared to act in this way if he had no backing,” Sakık stated.

Meanwhile, the Bugün daily, in a front page story, claimed that the leader of the KCK, Sabri Ok, had ordered the terrorist group to use every opportunity to hold violent demonstrations. According to Bugün, the police circulated information to every city and warned local organizations that the aim of the KCK was to create further chaos and situations in which the security forces clashed with the people.

The KCK and Ok’s name are mentioned in many events related to the file on Ergenekon, a criminal network allegedly aiming to overthrow the government by creating chaos.

Another expert, Sedat Laçiner from the International Strategic Research Organization (USAK), said that the PKK, which is unhappy about the government’s democratization initiative, is aiming to improve its hand in bargaining by organizing bloody events.

Laçiner also added that dark forces usually work toward the declaration of emergency law or even martial law. He said the PKK was seeking a civil war to revive itself. “As long as there is bloodshed on the streets, in İstanbul, Diyarbakır and so on, they will not even have to attack any targets. But all these things are part of the efforts for preparing for emergency rule,” Laçiner told Today’s Zaman.