In fear of losing strength, PKK turns to violence in cities

Öcalan is serving a life sentence on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara. He was the only inmate until recently, but eight other convicts have now been transferred to the island and he was placed in a different cell.

Öcalan's lawyers claim his new cell is six-and-a-half square meters, compared to the old cell's 12 square meters. The new cell's window is reportedly high and cannot be looked through at regular height. Öcalan, in his latest meeting with his lawyers last week, warned that his new prison conditions are harming his health.

In a written statement released on Monday, the PKK also depicted Öcalan’s new cell as a “death hole” and claimed that the aim of the new regulations is to kill him. The same statement also suggested that they consider Öcalan’s health as the health of the Kurdish nation.

“The attitude displayed towards him is reason enough for war or peace. We are now at the end of words. From now on, we are not responsible for possible developments,” the statement threatened.

The PKK also urged its sympathizers to protest Öcalan’s new prison conditions.

But even before this statement was released, illegal and violent demonstrations began on Nov. 27, the anniversary of the establishment of the PKK terrorist organization.

Children are often used in demonstrations of the terrorist PKK, such as Monday’s event organized under the pretext of a protest against the new imprisonment conditions of its leader, Abdullah Öcalan.

Demonstrations across the country

Shops have been closed for the past two days in Hakkari’s Yüksekova and Şemdinli districts while their streets are scene to skirmishes between security forces and demonstrators. The police station in Mersin’s Siteler neighborhood was attacked by demonstrators over the weekend. The demonstrators chanted slogans in favor of Öcalan and called on taking “revenge” on security forces. Several demonstrations also took place in İstanbul’s Sultanbeyli, Küçükçekmece, Zeytinburnu, Esenyurt and Beyoğlu districts. In Diyarbakır, demonstrators attacked several public buildings with Molotov cocktails.

In Diyarbakır, the Social Solidarity Services and Council Association (Şura-Der) was attacked over the Eid al-Adha holiday. In a written statement on Tuesday Şura-Der President Albulhakim Demir said the Quran and several other Islamic books were burned during the attacks. “They are unable to tolerate the work of Islamic foundations and are cooperating with the deep state,” the written statement said.

PKK is fearful

In addition to Şura-Der, prominent Kurdish intellectual İbrahim Güçlü thinks the events are an outcome of cooperation between the deep state and the deep PKK, both of which are against the government’s democratization initiative.

The government at the end of the summer launched an initiative to solve Turkey’s decades-old Kurdish question and termed the process the democratization initiative.

The government chose “more freedom for everyone” as the slogan of the initiative and it frequently underlined that it will never consider discussing the issue with the PKK, saying the only party with a voice in this process is the nation itself.

According to Güçlü, the process led the PKK to start feeling that it is no longer able to control the process and decided to use violence once more. He suggests that the PKK is using Öcalan’s health as a pretext.

“The PKK does not want improvements in the process,” he told Today’s Zaman.

Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a former chairman of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, underlined that certain segments of the Turkish and Kurdish society do not want improvements in the process and that it is impossible to convince them to support the democratization initiative. “The important thing is to pay utmost attention to not prepare a suitable ground and to not give any pretext to anyone looking for the opportunity to take to the streets,” he told Today’s Zaman.

Pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) parliamentary group chairman Selahattin Demirtaş warned that the country can be driven into worse tension if the government does no take immediate action to improve Öcalan’s condition. “Either the government is not aware of the situation, or it deliberately worsened Öcalan’s conditions. But this is a dangerous process, and tension might increase further,” Demirtaş told Today’s Zaman.

He added that the DTP has yet to decide on its position, which will be clearer on Wednesday, when the party’s decision-making organs convene for a meeting. “I think we will urge the parliamentary Human Rights Commission to pay a visit to İmralı as soon as possible. The Ministry of Justice should reverse the conditions on İmralı,” he said.