Votes and funerals

A reader of my column has asked: Tayyip Erdoğan used to get votes because the coffins of martyrs were not in the news. Now it is said he will gain votes because the coffins of martyrs are once again in the public eye. How is this so? How come Tayyip Erdoğan gets votes both when the coffins come and when they don’t come?

Let me explain. Tayyip Erdoğan used to get votes when the coffins of the martyrs weren’t coming because our people used to say, “How nice that coffins aren’t coming.”

In that situation, both Kurds and nationalists voted for him. Everybody was happy. The fact that martyrs’ funerals were not taking place was seen as an achievement. Erdoğan used to prioritize this fact. He used to do everything he could to stop the deaths. Remember all the ceasefire calls that were made to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Remember the statements that were asked to be made by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. Small security incidents were not exaggerated; they were called “road accidents” and we would carry on.

This concept changed after June 7.

This is because the Kurds broke away from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the election, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) got slightly more votes. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) passed the 10 percent election threshold and the AKP lost its ability for single-party rule. To form a single-party government again, the AKP needs to win back nationalist votes and the HDP needs to stay below the threshold.

With the solution process being put in the freezer and very strong retaliations being carried out against the PKK, all bridges are being broken.

All this has two purposes: 1) Winning back the votes that went to the MHP. 2) Winning back the votes of conservative Kurds who don’t want conflict.

But wait a minute. This concept has been shuttered for the past few days. There have been miscalculations. The engineering did not work. The opposite effect has happened.

People have started to shout, “Why are our kids are being killed?” at the funerals of martyrs. Ministers have started to be shouted at and the reaction has started to be directed toward Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

In addition, it has become clear that the HDP will not be pushed below the threshold.

Now, the AKP is looking for another exit. But I don’t think it can find one. It has exhausted all options.

Media coverage

The pro-government media proudly announces: “Terrorists were given a serious blow; 728 terrorists have been killed.”

Bravo.

But what will come next? Will the killing continue until the last remaining terrorist is dead.

These terrorists are not like fruits growing on a tree. They have mothers, fathers, sisters, cousins.

After the terrorists are killed, in what condition will we find the relatives they leave behind?

When we ask why our soldiers and police officers are killed. Those ruling this country have always said, “Because the terrorist organization is atrocious. It only knows how to kill.”

Indeed, what you say is correct. But a terrorist organization is supposed to create terror. So stop complaining about it and stop telling us what the nature of a terror organization is.

Your task is to produce policies that will stop these killings, that will nullify the treacherous acts of terror organizations, and - most of all - to find a solution.