Terror's target

Turkey's constitutional system has a kind of nature that almost every form of terror can be created from within. The sense of tolerability within this system gives terror groups the platform they need. But even this sense is not enough for terror groups to legitimize their actions. Turkey has been suffering from simultaneous and well-coordinated terror attacks launched by the PKK, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) for days. According to Western media outlets, however, Turkey declared war on the Kurds and, considering the remarks that HDP officials made to the German press, PKK militants are freedom fighters. It is really not necessary to discuss why this whole thing is reflected as such in the Western media. After all, it is pretty obvious that the West pursues its self-interests through perception management. But the relationship between the PKK and the notion of freedom fighters is worth discussing.

It is already known that between 1919 and 1922 the Kurds actively participated in the Turkish War of Independence against the imperial powers - even this resilience ignited in Kurdish provinces, there were Kurdish members in the 1920s Grand Assembly and the constitution of 1921 was accepted with a broad consensus formed together with the Kurds. However, it is also known how this consensus was violated after 1922 and Turkey has been controlled in a game, whose rules have been determined unilaterally over 90 years. As a result, there were denials, assimilation policies and certain segments of society have been deprived of their basic rights and freedoms.

But it was not only the Kurds who suffered from the constitutional system's rules of this unilaterally determined game. Everyone except the forces that have been controlling the constitutional system and their bases has suffered as well. Many years have passed with the excluded segments fighting against the system. In the early 2000s, however, serious steps were taken regarding fundamental rights and freedoms during the EU integration process. Especially, the rights of Kurds that were suspended after 1922 are now being recognized. All of the problems in the early 1990s that the PKK pledged to disarm if dealt with have been solved today.

Just like Halil Berktay asked, today there is no precise answer to the question of what the PKK is for. Upon looking at what is happening today, it is clear that two years of the reconciliation process were used for recruitment and the storage of weapons and explosives in big cities by the PKK. It is also impossible to disregard the claim that the PKK might have manipulated the votes of Kurds during the election, especially in rural areas.

For a terrorist organization that has long exploited the reconciliation process, to further recruit militants and transform cities into arms depots, reconciliation does not mean the solution of the Kurdish question within the boundaries of freedoms and democracy. It can be said that other than the solution of the Kurdish issue, the PKK, which destroyed all of its opponent Kurdish movements in 30 years, is pursuing its own political agenda. Hence, in an atmosphere where most of the imposed restrictions on Kurdish fundamental rights and freedoms are lifted except their right to have an education in their mother tongue, which requires several changes in the Constitution, freedom fighters radically lose their validity.

Today, when such progress is already being made in recognizing the rights of Kurds, the PKK is launching one of its broadest attacks and, as a result, many people are dying. From now on, the PKK's political target is itself. For the PKK, the reconciliation process would be successful if the organization dominates a political sphere where it can enforce its totalitarian ideology. But it is really difficult to say that this success is about returning the Kurds their rights and freedoms.