Those decision makers who have so far failed in countering such state actors in their endeavor to maintain the status quo at the expense of democracy should equally be blamed for bowing to the pressures of the anti-democracy power centers. Fights between the state actors have currently been waged through the arguments of a possible cross-border operation into northern Iraq. While the terror threat is real both inside and outside Turkey, the image that Ankara has been creating is one of a power struggle via invasion arguments, trying to undermine each other regardless of safeguarding the country's national interests.
In the midst of this power struggle, decision makers have been forgetting the real problem of what is at stake for Turkey in the event of short-term gains resulting with disasters in the long term. Some examples of such disasters are Turkish isolation from the world affecting the economy and serious setbacks in improving democratic reforms as well as the danger of internal strife between Turks and Kurds.
Whereas real issues related to the terror problem, which has seen an upsurge in past months with the intensified fighting between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists and Turkish security forces, should primarily and urgently be discussed.
In the absence of a convincing policy being pursued by Ankara to address the grievances of the Kurds in particular and the whole society in general, it is becoming harder for Turkey to justify to the world the necessity of a cross-border operation inside northern Iraq to crack down on the PKK terrorists, who are posing a security threat to Turkey. Ankara has not yet convinced either group that in the case of a cross-border operation it will target the PKK alone. The US in particular, which Turkey has been seeking to come to its aid for a joint operation into northern Iraq, has a deeply held belief that once Turkish soldiers invade Iraq they will also target the Iraqi Kurds to intimidate them and prevent them from setting up an independent Kurdish state. Such a motive will further complicate the US's combat in Iraq.
Retired Gen. Armağan Kuloğlu was telling me during a recent chat that the motion that has allowed the government to stage a cross-border operation has not only identified targets in the event of an operation as the PKK but also areas where the PKK could escape. "These escape routes will also be under attack, and if those routes involve Iraqi Kurdish areas, then they [Iraqi Kurds] will also be attacked. Thus, Turkey will meet its political goal of intimidating the Iraqi Kurds from setting up an independent Kurdish state," he said.
Different voices coming from Ankara's power centers over the motives of the cross-border operation, therefore, also play a crucial role in the credibility of Ankara's real target in the event of an operation, in addition to the fear of a danger that any armed attack could end up with collateral damage.
Criticism leveled by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last Tuesday against politicians, writers and retired army officers who have exerted pressure for the military to launch a large-scale operation into northern Iraq, and whom he described as provocateurs firing a bullet against the country's unity, tells us very clearly how severe the power struggle is being waged among the state actors.
However, opposition views coming up with constructive solutions to Turkey's Kurdish problem to lessen the PKK terror while promoting the rule of law is the only credible instrument in convincing the world that Turkey has been facing a real threat from the PKK.
Instead, beating the war drums alone and exploiting peoples' nationalistic sentiments will also not do any good to those whose main motive behind provocations is to undermine the government.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was given a strong mandate by the people during the July 22 elections to rule the country for another five years. The AK Party received with 47 percent of the vote, a clear mandate from the people that it should move forward with, among other things, democratic reforms.
Thus, the government does not have any excuse in both governing and ruling the nation. Having the strength of the people behind it, the AK Party should now take full control of the country. Otherwise, its real authority against some appointed state actors playing a strong role in designing the country's future will soon be questioned.
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