Gov’t determined about democratic initiative, fight against terror

    In 26 years of the fight against terrorism perpetrated by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), 42,000 citizens have been killed, and Turkey is questioning its methods of fighting the problem. Although the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), which has been carrying out the fight against the PKK, accepts that the method is wrong, many political parties demand responding to terrorism with violence.

While explaining that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is careful about not committing the same mistakes as former governments, former Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu, who is current deputy chairman of the AK Party, told Sunday’s Zaman: “We do not care about the parties which impose their deadlock as solutions. We did not fall into the same traps as the previous governments, and we will not.”

Aksu said former governments had merely let the military handle the fight against terrorism and did not fulfill their duties in economic, social, political and diplomatic terms in the fight against terrorism.

Aksu: We will not be mistaken again

Aksu served as interior minister during the terms of former governments when terrorism was intense. Aksu spoke about former Prime Minister Tansu Çiller’s proposal to make investments in the region to stop terrorism; she was in office in the early 1990s. “We did not think of the terrorism problem as a struggle with the security forces then. We met the needs of our security forces in the fight against terrorism, on the one hand, and we made economic, social and cultural investments in the region on the other.

“Important steps have been taken in the past eight years in the issues of democratic rights and freedoms. The ban of broadcasting in the mother tongue was abolished and Kurdish institutes were opened. People had the freedom to learn their mother tongue and name their children in their own language. The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation [TRT] launched a Kurdish broadcasting station. All the villages in the region were provided with roads and water resources with Köydes [Village Infrastructure Support] and Beldes [Municipalities Infrastructure Support] projects. We allocated $12 billion to GAP [Southeastern Anatolia Project], which will develop the region, and we aim to complete the project. The governments before us only looked at the issue in terms of security. We have changed that point of view,” he said.

‘You cannot totally wipe out terror’

While noting that the inappropriateness of the method was accepted by chiefs of General Staff and force commanders, Aksu said they will take a step back with democratic gains.

“If opposition parties that support a traditional fight against terrorism with armaments were a little more conciliatory, both the democratic initiative and the constitutional reforms would be successful in Turkey. See who did not want the democratic initiative? Mostly the PKK and its extensions. Now those parties offer their deadlock to us as solutions. Turkey knows very well that those methods will not bring about a solution,” he said.

The parties that act with the discourse of “we will totally wipe out terrorism” do not see the realities, according to Aksu. “No countries with problems of terrorism have totally wiped out terrorism. What they do is to minimize terrorism and render them unable to act. This is what we want.”

Military accepts mistakes

About 30 soldiers were killed in the aftermath of April 27, 2007 e-memorandum when terrorist incidents began to increase, with attacks targeting the Dağlıca and Aktütün military outposts in Turkey. In light of recent incidents, military officers also seem to be changing their point of view in the fight against terrorism. Former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt and retired Gen. Edip Başer confessed that the military had committed grave errors in the fight against terrorism.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at Tuesday’s AK Party group meeting in Parliament that Turkey will not repeat the same old mistakes. On the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) proposal to reinstitute OHAL, Erdoğan said, “Calling for a state of emergency is tantamount to bowing down to the language of terrorism.”

Recalling that a state of emergency was declared on July 19, 1987 and it was abolished on Nov. 30, 2002, Erdoğan said during his speech in Parliament: “What problem did OHAL solve? From the statistics, you will see that terror was at its peak during the state of emergency. A state of emergency deepens terrorism, victimizes the people of the region and strengthens the abuse of terror.”

Experts find old methods mistaken, too

Experts on terrorism and strategy also accept that the methods of fighting against terrorism applied by former governments were wrong. In a recent speech, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu accepted that the old methods were detrimental. “It is wrong to respond to blood with blood,” he said.

Chairman of the International Strategic Research Center (USAK) and renowned security analyst Sedat Laçiner told Sunday’s Zaman that in addition to committing mistakes in the fight against terrorism, Turkey also commits mistakes in its fight against terrorists. “There are many mistakes in the fight against terrorism. First of all, you cannot battle against terrorism with a large, slow-moving army because they are not designed for fighting against terrorism.”

Highlighting that it is wrong to deploy 250,000 soldiers in the region where terrorism is concentrated, Laçiner asserted that the battle must be waged by professional experts in terrorism instead of a regular army.

Assistant Professor Bekir Çınar of Niğde University noted that England’s struggle against the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was successful when projects to win hearts and convince people were implemented along with intelligence gathering. In addition to responding to terrorism with violence, there is disagreement between intelligence units in Turkey, according to Çınar. Explaining that England carried out its fight against terrorism by withdrawing the army and maintaining the fight with professional security forces, Çınar said: “A new page can be turned in the fight against terrorism with the democratic initiative. However, internal balances, political parties and differing points of view in the bureaucracy prevent this page from being turned.”

Government determined on democratic initiative

Suat Kılıç, the deputy chairman of the AK Party parliamentary group, reacted to the criticism that the government is inefficient in its fight against terrorism and that the democratic initiative weakens this struggle.

“The governments before us only dealt with the issue of terrorism in terms of the military and security. We, on the other hand, are trying to carry out the fight and have been keeping human rights, freedoms, democracy and security alive for eight years,” Kılıç said, highlighting that the government will not give up on the democratic initiative.