Are Kurds triggermen?
The inner problems of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the Republican People's Party (CHP), and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are reflected in society to some extent, but what is going on within the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is not known, since it practices politics under the shadow of the outlawed PKK's headquarters in Northern Iraq's Qandil Mountains. No one can speak in a place where bombs are prevalent. Society is paying the price of the absence of politics in the region much more heavily. Three main groups within the HDP with societal bases are in question: Nationalist, social democrat Kurds; conservative, religious Kurds and left-wing, secular and Alevi Kurds, which also includes left-wing Turkish voters.
The HDP is a coalition of these three groups while the PKK is the main power commanding it. The interesting part is that the PKK-HDP "line" has been governed by political actors from the left-wing, secular and Alevi group for a long time. However, the Kurdish base predominantly has religious, conservative, nationalist and slightly social democrat tendencies. As a matter of fact, the political picture we always see in the region never changes - the base is conservative and the top is left-wing and secular.
The PKK-HDP line suffers from this imbalance. The top group imposes policies based on violence and terrorism, which deepens the gravity of the situation even more. All social groups have been paying the price of PKK and HDP policies adopted following the June 7 elections. Due to this so-called revolutionary people's war, kicked off by the HDP and the PKK, thousands of people have been dragged to death and dozens of cities have been demolished.
Who is in charge of all this loss? Conservative Kurds in the HDP were the first to ask this question. HDP Deputy Altan Tan, who formerly spoke on many subjects but then drew back, has made some interesting analyses regarding the causes of the policies of violence and he gave the first sign of a division in the party without recoiling for the first time.
It would be useful to quote some of his remarks.
"If nearly 7,000 Kurdish youth have been killed, you cannot evade the issue by only apologizing. They must quit their positions if they could not see or calculate this."
"We are currently at a crossroads in Kurdish politics. It will part the way of those insisting on conflict, war and a revolutionary people's war from the way of those opposed to the war who chose democratic means."
Tan also expressed his wish to hear conservative voices at the forefront of the HDP, but he is not very hopeful about that: "There would be no need for a division if the conservative group becomes more effective in the party. But different groups might be formed if this war strategy and left-wing, socialist and secular discourse keeps its dominance. Politics does not tolerate absences or gaps."
Among Tan's statements, his remarks regarding the formation of a new party elicited the biggest interest. However, the interview for the Habertürk daily covered a much more striking point and I think this is what really unnerved HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş and the PKK leadership in the Qandil Mountains, since it reflects the feelings of conservatives as well as some other groups who define themselves as "Kurdistani" and oppose violence. A question in the interview is: "For whom are the bombs blasting? What are these people dying for? For whom is the PKK fighting?"
Here is Tan's answer, which is not allowed to be reflected in the PKK-HDP line: "Some groups have a fight with Turkey in international politics. Also, there are some international forces that want to discard President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. There are groups that want to overthrow the AK Party government while some groups have direct problems with Islam. All these groups have chosen Kurds as a tool for their political aims. They want Kurds to revolt and terrorize in order to achieve their goals and redesign Turkey. But how would it favor Kurds? What could Erdoğan haters, white Turks, leftist socialist marginal groups, the U.S., U.K., Germany, Iran or Russia offer to Kurds? So far, Iran and Russia have not even developed any project regarding the Kurds in Syria. All these forces want to manipulate and use Kurds as triggermen.
The HDP is a coalition of these three groups while the PKK is the main power commanding it. The interesting part is that the PKK-HDP "line" has been governed by political actors from the left-wing, secular and Alevi group for a long time. However, the Kurdish base predominantly has religious, conservative, nationalist and slightly social democrat tendencies. As a matter of fact, the political picture we always see in the region never changes - the base is conservative and the top is left-wing and secular.
The PKK-HDP line suffers from this imbalance. The top group imposes policies based on violence and terrorism, which deepens the gravity of the situation even more. All social groups have been paying the price of PKK and HDP policies adopted following the June 7 elections. Due to this so-called revolutionary people's war, kicked off by the HDP and the PKK, thousands of people have been dragged to death and dozens of cities have been demolished.
Who is in charge of all this loss? Conservative Kurds in the HDP were the first to ask this question. HDP Deputy Altan Tan, who formerly spoke on many subjects but then drew back, has made some interesting analyses regarding the causes of the policies of violence and he gave the first sign of a division in the party without recoiling for the first time.
It would be useful to quote some of his remarks.
"If nearly 7,000 Kurdish youth have been killed, you cannot evade the issue by only apologizing. They must quit their positions if they could not see or calculate this."
"We are currently at a crossroads in Kurdish politics. It will part the way of those insisting on conflict, war and a revolutionary people's war from the way of those opposed to the war who chose democratic means."
Tan also expressed his wish to hear conservative voices at the forefront of the HDP, but he is not very hopeful about that: "There would be no need for a division if the conservative group becomes more effective in the party. But different groups might be formed if this war strategy and left-wing, socialist and secular discourse keeps its dominance. Politics does not tolerate absences or gaps."
Among Tan's statements, his remarks regarding the formation of a new party elicited the biggest interest. However, the interview for the Habertürk daily covered a much more striking point and I think this is what really unnerved HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş and the PKK leadership in the Qandil Mountains, since it reflects the feelings of conservatives as well as some other groups who define themselves as "Kurdistani" and oppose violence. A question in the interview is: "For whom are the bombs blasting? What are these people dying for? For whom is the PKK fighting?"
Here is Tan's answer, which is not allowed to be reflected in the PKK-HDP line: "Some groups have a fight with Turkey in international politics. Also, there are some international forces that want to discard President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. There are groups that want to overthrow the AK Party government while some groups have direct problems with Islam. All these groups have chosen Kurds as a tool for their political aims. They want Kurds to revolt and terrorize in order to achieve their goals and redesign Turkey. But how would it favor Kurds? What could Erdoğan haters, white Turks, leftist socialist marginal groups, the U.S., U.K., Germany, Iran or Russia offer to Kurds? So far, Iran and Russia have not even developed any project regarding the Kurds in Syria. All these forces want to manipulate and use Kurds as triggermen.