PKK attacks cause national outrage
Violence sparks concerns over regional security and the Kurdish problem.
By Alakbar Raufoglu for SES Türkiye -- 04/09/12
Armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, Kurdish rebels attacked a security complex in southeastern Sirnak Province on Sunday (September 2nd), triggering fierce clashes that left about 29 people dead -- one of the deadliest recent single incidents.
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![Last month, 10 people were killed in a car bomb attack blamed on the terrorist group in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. [Reuters]](/shared/images/2012/09/04/ALAKBARphoto-310_213.jpg)
Last month, 10 people were killed in a car bomb attack blamed on the terrorist group in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. [Reuters]
![Last month, 10 people were killed in a car bomb attack blamed on the terrorist group in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. [Reuters]](/shared/images/2012/09/04/ALAKBARphoto-800_550.jpg)
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Nine security agents were killed and eight were wounded, while 20 members of the militant group were killed in the fighting, according to local governor's office.
In another incident earlier that day, clashes erupted when rebels refused to heed police calls to stop at a checkpoint on a highway in the province of Sanliurfa and instead shot at the police.
The PKK has stepped up its assaults against Turkish security forces in the recent months, especially in Kurdish-dominated provinces.
Last month, 10 people were killed in a car bomb attack blamed on the terrorist group in the southeastern city of Gaziantep, which caused national outrage.
The government launched a large-scale military offensive against the PKK on July 23rd that, it said early last month, had killed a total of 115 Kurdish rebels.
President Abdullah Gul condemned the latest attack, urging "the internal and external supporters of this shameful game will sooner or later understand that they have made a wrongful calculation and will be punished."
"Terror brings no solution to problems, everyone should finally understand it," Mehmet Metiner, a Kurdish intellectual and MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party, told SES Türkiye.
Nearly 800 people have died in the past year in clashes between the PKK and security forces, including about 500 PKK fighters, more than 200 security personnel and about 85 civilians, according to the International Crisis Group.
"It seems that the PKK is trying to prove that it has adequate military power to a full-scale war against one of the strongest armies in the Middle East. This is sending message to its support base," Professor Cenap Cakmak, head of the international relations department at Osmangazi University in Eskisehir, told SES Türkiye.
The group "is not seeking international recognition or legitimacy; instead, it is seeking further legitimacy and prestige among its supporters," he said.
Like many local analysts, Cakmak believes the timing is crucial in the recent attacks for two major reasons: first, "the PKK is trying to take advantage of the power vacuum in Syria and the growing influence of ethnic Kurdish politics. Second, it wants to back the argument raised by the BDP, a pro-Kurdish political party, that it has control in some predominantly Kurdish areas," he told SES Türkiye.
Professor Michael Gunter from Tennessee Technological University, who has written nine books about the Kurdish people, agrees that timing is indeed very important as "the current dynamic situation in Syria demands a response from the PKK to show that it too is involved in developments in Turkey."
"The Kurds in Syria are establishing their own autonomy. Surely the PKK cannot be seen as falling behind their Syrian brethren by not furthering local Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey," he told SES Türkiye.
He argued that by stepping up fighting in Turkey, the PKK may be seeking to tie Ankara down and further discourage it from attacking the PYD in Syria just south of the Turkish border. "Thus the PKK shows its solidarity with its Kurdish brothers in Syria increasingly led by the PYD, which is ideologically close to the PKK".
For Gunter, the PKK may also be seeking to challenge the incipient alliance between Turkey and the KRG, as Ankara can then blame the KRG for not cracking down on the PKK still ensconced in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq.
"It seems the PKK has re-emerged as a potent force in the region and it begs the question about possible support it is receiving--official or otherwise -- from northern Iraq," Professor Paul Kubicek, Turkey analyst at Oakland University in Michigan, told SES Türkiye.
"The PKK, despite Turkish claims of killing many PKK fighters, believes that it has the ability to inflict heavy casualties on Turkish forces," he said.
Clearly, he adds," the situation in the southeast is becoming more serious, [and] the opposition is likely see these events as a way to criticize the AKP."
What do you think of this article? (Total Votes )
12 Like(s)
7 Dislike(s)
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No past or present government in Turkey has been able to reveal those who support the PKK with logistics and arms. Why? Top executives of the organization live like kings in EU countries. However, the so-called democratic and humanistic EU, which is against terrorism, do not catch them. Why? Why can’t the EU Minister say these openly? What is Turkey doing within such a system? Turkish convicts in EU prisons are dying to come to Turkey to serve their time in Turkish prisons, but somehow it is always our prisons which are audited and disapproved. Why are they keeping that butcher, Apo in VIP halls and granting him VIP rights in prison? I, as a citizen wonder why and how? Why are they fooling people?
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As being a Turkish Republic citizen having a diploma for mountain commando, it may be exaggerative to say but I’ll exterminate PKK in 6 months. How? 3000 mounatin commando with special education and with 3000 TL salary, like PKK living on the mountain. Logistic support is from Turkish state. If these soldiers can not destroy all PKK camps and can not enter into Kandil as well, I’ll destroy myself. The only duty for these soldiers is to live on the mountains.
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I sincerely believe him that he told the truth.
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Look my friends, our major enemies are Germany and France as well as that snaky UK and Israel. Once these countries steer away from the PKK, [PKK] would not even find a place to escape. But Turkey cannot uncover these facts. These are only discussed behind closed doors. They are such hypocrites that in every country, that they call their friend, they caused internal conflict. If you want to see how they set people against each other, just read the history of African petroleum and see how they bought oil at cheap prices.
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The US, which is aiming [to get] Syria, is secretly trying to make us enter into war. They are trying to scare us with the PKK.
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Enough with this terror! How many more lives will it take?
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That is probably a lie.
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Turks have been trying to manage Kurds by their policies of denial and extermination for a hundered years. Kurds are still behaving Turks in brotherhood feelings despite all these suppression and defamation and trying to verbalize and cry out that these matters should be solved in peace and brotherhood on all occasions. But Turkish people ignore all these, embrace the governments which put pressure on Kurds. This is a misery and indefensible case for both people who have engaged with many wars together. Turkish people should take action against this battle of brothers immediately by not losing any single second and stand up to these cruel governments. We do not want any soldier or guerilla anymore. Regards.
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The most important thing is the Republic of Turkey’s being everlasting.
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This country has not been taken so easily and we do not want to give it so easily as well. I’m calling here the governing level of the state: You can not divide this country. This country has been taken with great difficulties and now you’re making benefits available to the imperialist powers. But this will not happen so easy, you should know this.
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Turks will not go anywhere from these lands until the doomsday. Also, nobody should think that Turks are attacking, this is just a retiring phase.
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