PKK leader threatens Turkey with thousands of Ankara-like bombings
by Daily Sabah
ISTANBULFeb 25, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah
Feb 25, 2016 12:00 am
Senior PKK leader Duran Kalkan threatened Turkey with thousands of Ankara-like bombings and insurgencies in March in an interview with the PKK-linked Fırat News Agency (ANF) on Thursday.
Regarding last week's Ankara bombing that killed 29 people, Kalkan said: "We have seen this rage in Ankara. This might be a thousand, not a single one."
Indicating that they have power and can use this "weapon," he said: "The situation in Ankara has proven that."
He also said that they will continue their fight in the forthcoming process and said: "This March is the process of a big resistance," adding this spring will become the "Kurdish spring."
"It came to a point that we cannot even restrain it. The organization that conducted this [Ankara bombing] has made a statement in recent months and accused the PKK of passivism. Kurdish youth establish new organizations. It seems they will be quite radicalized."
Following the end of winter, the PKK plans to carry the war to the urban areas in Turkey's southeast, as a "Kurdish spring." Concerning the development, deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has also pointed to the spring of this year as a time that could have heightened violence. HDP Bingöl deputy Hişyar Özsoy previously said: "Everybody is preparing for spring."
Former deputy and Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair Hatip Dicle asserted in an interview that Turkey may be faced with bloody attacks in metropolises should counterterror operations in the southeast not conclude by the end of April.
"If we cannot stop this war by the end of April, we may be faced with a new and more comprehensive wave of violence involving metropolises," Dicle contended, adding that his words should not be interpreted as a threat.
Kalkan had previously pledged to "send Turks back to where they came from" in an interview published in the PKK-affiliated Özgür Gündem daily in December.
In the interview, Kalkan said that Turkey is committing "genocide" in the southeast, adding that Kurds have the power to "send Turks back to where they came from 1,000 years ago."
"Let [President] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other Turkish officials know that Kurds can continue the resistance until they send Turks back," he added.
Prior to the June 7 elections, among the debates of whether the PKK will give up its arms, Kalkan had said: "The Turkish society should not be misinformed. The PKK should lay down its arms? The PKK won't lay down its arms. Why would it? Kurds don't lay down arms."
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