Following these visits, there were high expectations for Erdoğan to take steps toward settling the Kurdish problem as well as mounting criticism of the DTP, which many say is committing suicide by calling people to violence. Radikal’s Oral Çalışlar thinks there is meaning in Erdoğan visiting the critical provinces in the Southeast during a period of increased tension in the region. He says Erdoğan means to say, “If you are challenging me, I will not surrender; I will challenge you as well.” According to Çalışlar, Erdoğan adopting such an attitude is consistent because if one wants to produce a solution for a problem, the Kurdish problem in this case, then one should not run away from the problem. Instead, it must be dealt with. Nevertheless, he suggests that the important thing for Erdoğan is the opening he will make after paying visits to the region.
Referring to the remarks of Erdoğan, who said his government will continue to invest in the region and not give up from its pro-freedom and democratic attitude, Çalışlar says the term “democracy” has to be filled with action when the issue is the Southeast. “Democracy has different aspects here, where it means the recognition of Kurdish reality, seeing the Kurdish problem as an identity problem and taking appropriate steps. Democracy means cultural rights here, it means the mother tongue [Kurdish] being taught at schools as an elective course. It means the establishment of an institute of Kurdish studies,” Çalışlar explains. He hopes Erdoğan understood the climate there after his visits to the region and that he will take the necessary steps. “I hope these risky and polemical visits initiate new openings that will change the environment nourishing violence,” says Çalışlar.
Yeni Şafak’s Fehmi Koru highlights a change in Erdoğan’s discourse regarding the DTP. He says that although Erdoğan has been asking the DTP to declare the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) a terrorist organization, he, for the first time during his visit to Van, referred to the DTP as terrorist, which Koru finds very critical. “Associating a political party with terror brings it into a worse situation than closure, causing its legitimacy to be questioned. A political party which has been labeled terrorist by the prime minister cannot settle itself into a functional position in the system no matter how hard it tries,” claims Koru.
According to Bugün’s Adem Yavuz Arslan, Erdoğan’s visits to Van and Hakkari can be summarized as follows: The DTP wants to spill blood. He says the DTP officials see Erdoğan’s visit as provocative and that their party therefore has the right to demonstrate a “democratic reaction.” “However, what they understand by ‘democratic reaction’ is different. They burn vehicles, attack the police with stones and break windows. Their words are full of hatred and anger,” says Arslan.
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