"Not Only The PKK, But The Armed Forces Should End The Violence Too"

In the bomb attacks in Güngören, Üsküdar, Mersin and Izmir 17 people were killed and more than 150 were injured.

Although the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) did not take the responsibility for any of the attacks, there has been a fast and extensive campaign in the media connecting these attacks with the PKK. The authorities have been helping this campaign with their announcements as well.

We asked former Turkish Worker Party (TİP) deputy and Kurdish intellectual doctor Tarık Ziya Ekinci about this process.

“I do not think the PKK planned the attacks”

Ekinci, who thinks the PKK did not plan these attacks, said the following:

“If the PKK had done the attacks they would have made this obvious. After all, the PKK has been conducting a war since 1984, a low intensity war according to the General Staff. It is very natural that they would have used these incidents as propaganda material for their struggle. However, on the other hand, that it does not take any responsibility for these events should mean something. I personally do not think that the PKK planned these attacks.”

“Violence will not stop just because one side lays down its arms"

Thinking that every step, every activity for peace is meaningful, Ekinci says violence will not stop just because one side lays down its arms:

“Demanding that only the PKK lay down its arms is not a solution. The final solution will come when both the PKK and the Turkish Armed Forces end the violence and the rights that are demanded [by the Kurdish people] are given. Otherwise, it is unrealistic to expect that an organization that has been conducting an armed struggle for years will simply give up this. Violence will end only when both sides lay down their arms.”

“Turkey should take into consideration the IRA and ETA processes”

According to Ekinci, the answer to the question “what is to be done” requires one to look at the countries with more experience in these matters.

“For example, how did the IRA and England end the violence between them that lasted for years? Or, how the BASK and Spain arrived at today? Insisting on a chauvinistic attitude will bring no solution, but a deadlock. The State of the Turkish Republic should take into consideration the IRA and ETA processes.”

“Moreover, the comments of the PKK administrators should be taken seriously, too. They demand laying down arms and continuing the attempts to solve the problem in the political arena. Turkey should not close its ears to these proposals.

“We should ask for peace loudly without giving credit to chauvinistic news”

Ekinci thinks both the Turkish and Kurdish sides are uncomfortable with the dead and the bloodshed.

“One should see this. If one cannot see this then there is a very serious problem. Only the public pressure can end the violence. Public should voice its discomfort; there should be campaigns about laying down the arms, ending the bloodshed; they should take their problems to the people and institutions that can solve them and move them to action.”

“We should not give credit to chauvinistic news, not be influenced by them. After all, there exists a kind of media policy that affects the thoughts of the people by feeding them chauvinistic news. The job of the public demanding peace and end to violence should raise its voice without being influenced by this chauvinistic media policy. (BÇ/NZ/TB)