One of the subjects currently keeping Turkish politics busy is the issue of the deep ditches the outlawed PKK has been digging in cities with high Kurdish populations.Unfortunately, this is the case. The PKK is still threatening civilians and democratic politics with a method of war from medieval times in the east of the country while the west is living the 21st century.Life has come to a standstill in Kurdish cities where the PKK has dug ditches in order to limit the movement of security forces. People in the region cannot leave their homes. The commercial activities have also nearly stopped due to the organization's pressure on shopkeepers to shut down their shops. Families cannot send their children to school due to the mines the PKK has planted in the streets. With compulsory curfews being declared by the state in order to provide safety for citizens, the situation is getting even worse.Within the process that has been ongoing for the past few months, which started as the PKK lost its influence in rural areas in the face of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and sent its militants to urban areas, a total of 300,000 people have left their homes.
Aside from various financial troubles, this wave of migration has also created psychological trauma for citizens, which is a major problem.These incidents indicate that the PKK, which organized several terrorist attacks in order not to undermine the vote rate of its legal wing, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), before the Nov. 1 elections, is stuck.
The PKK administration, which has been doing politics with the comfort of weapons for years, returned to the best method they know as soon as the reconciliation process, which had been ongoing for two-and-a-half years, came to an end. Consequently, the current picture is not so unexpected. It is the familiar retracing of steps by a terrorist organization. The strange part is that the HDP, which is expected to be more moderate since it is the legal wing of the PKK, is willingly and joyfully jumping into the ditches dug by PKK militants.
With more than 100 municipalities and 59 deputies in Parliament, the HDP is burying the political power it has amassed in the PKK's ditches. Radically supporting the organization's politics of digging ditches, which has caused hundreds of casualties in cities, the HDP is getting more and more aggressive as it loses votes from its own base due to the policies it adopts. But why is the HDP, which enjoyed 13 percent of the vote in the June 7 elections, increasing twofold from before, blatantly committing political suicide now? This question, which political analysts in Turkey have been trying to answer lately, has actually only one answer: The HDP is also stuck like its armed PKK wing.The PKK, organized in accordance with the Leninist model, sees armed fighting as an essential factor just like all the other Marxist groups. It regards the HDP's acts in democratic political institutions as being of secondary importance. It sees this realm as a temporary means toward obtaining the anti-democratic demands represented by armed radicals.
As such, some good-willed analysists think that, by taking initiative, the HDP administration's adopting a stance against the violence of its armed wing would conflict with the very essence of its existence. It is also still fresh on our collective minds that those HDP civilian politicians who are showing the courage to adopt a stance against the policies of the PKK have faced many forms of backlash from the PKK, ranging from assassination to exile. In this case, what will be the future of the HDP, which recently marked a period of success?
The answer to this question, which concerns not only the party but also the peaceful atmosphere in the country, unfortunately, does not seem very positive.It is hard for the ruling reformist Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to resist the increasing nationalist tendencies of the public, triggered by the PKK and the HDP.The results of a public survey revealed that 90 percent of participants think the state should take more strict measures against the indifferent, violent policies of the PKK and the HDP. Observing this tendency, other opposition parties also insist on the government taking stricter measures.If Turkish intellectuals and the media outlets adopt a perspective which prioritizes politics and defends the civilian's right to life, and give up legitimizing terror, they can contribute to the normalization of the entire political scene, including the HDP. Such a consensus, however, has not been achieved yet.
In sum, many factors in politics now seem to be stuck. Our only hope is past experiences, as they show that even more difficult situations could be resolved in these territories since the Anatolian territory on which Turkey is built is only destined for peace, being located at the crossroads of all roads leading to civilization. It will be a long and harsh process, but peace will certainly be introduced.
