Politics is also a way to fight terror
The latest terror attack that cost the lives of 28 people reminded us one more time our unending fight against terrorism, which we already feel under our skin.
Obviously there will be a struggle against terror. And we will all make various sacrifices for that cause.
But we need to know this too: Increasing security is an unavoidable method to fight terror but it is not the only weapon to use against terror.
As long as we cannot eliminate the causes of terrorism and show an effort in that direction, the best thing we can do is to increase security measures to try to defend ourselves; in other words, give up, one by one, our individual freedoms.
Decreasing the risk
That’s why Turkey has to resort to politics to get rid of the terror trouble it is facing, to eliminate the reasons that lead to terror or at least try to diminish them.
We have currently very little information about the Ankara attacks.
We do not know who did it and who engineered it. Yet we see in the statements made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the government spokesperson, Numan Kurtulmuş, certain countries are being accused of carrying out the latest attack.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had used the phrase “Russia’s instrument for outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] and its Syrian wing the PYD[Democratic Union Party]/YPG [People’s Protection Units],” two days before the attack
We need to assume that these words are not said in a vacuum and uttered based on certain estimations.
Turkey currently is at war with three terror organization at the same time. First and foremost is the PKK. It is followed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).
The route is in Syria
All the three wars find its routes in Syria. There are developments that Turkey can control in the Syrian internal war; but there are also developments that are totally beyond the control of Turkey.
With each passing day, we witness a decrease in the number of developments Turkey can control.
Indeed there is a strong theory that the aim and purpose of terror is to decrease Turkey’s control in Syria.
What then Turkey should do in this situation?
As far as the civil war in Syria is concerned, most of the countries directly or indirectly involved in the war say they are for peace; nevertheless, everyone keeps accusing the other of being part of the problem, not the solution. Turkey is in a similar position.
Yet, without focusing on who will govern in Syria in the future, efforts should be spent to establish permanent peace in the country as soon as possible. At any rate, the new realities on the ground and the direction of the evolution of events are forcing Turkey to develop policies in accordance to this new situation and revise its old policies.
Turkey can still play a role by having the Syrian opposition sit down at the peace table with realizable demands instead maximalist demands. Those maximalist demands enables Bashar al-Assad and his supporters, Russia and Iran, to speak with maximalist demands.
At the final analysis Syrians should be able to determine their fate themselves and that they should be able to do so in an environment devoid of violence.
If the current regime is not toppling due to the strong foreign support it receives, one needs to see that.
At any rate Turkey’s priority cannot be Syria; the priority is Turkey and our security. And we need to prioritize three fundamental threats with routes in Syria.
First threat is the refugee issue. We can solve the refugee issue to the degree we stop seeing the Assad regime as a threat and become able to send Syrians in Turkey back to their homes.
The PKK/PYD/YPG problem is similar. We need to be open to the negotiation table or at least the door open to get back to the indirect negotiation table.
Turkey can not continue its fight against terror with only security measures.