Terror cannot be defeated by booing Kılıçdaroğlu
Before the funerals of the police officers killed in the car bomb attack in Istanbul’s Vezneciler on June 7, more news of another attack came from the southeast town of Midyat. Before the pain of the first one had sunk, we were shaken by another attack.
Can we overcome this terror campaign without sticking together? Can we overcome terrorism by making crowds boo main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who said “we should fight jointly against terror; as the main opposition party we are ready to make any kind of contribution”?
Can we defeat these bombs by associating the opposition with terrorist groups? Can we stop terror organizations’ recruiting by criminalizing politicians rather than encouraging terrorists to abandon arms?
Can we really keep blaming the CHP, which has not been in power for more than 20 years?
During the first half of the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) time in power, this method was attempted against the government. Several provocations and outbursts were staged at soldiers’ funerals. The AK Party was blamed for the bloodshed. Wreaths laid by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were attacked and slogans were chanted. Crowds are made to chant “murderers.”
The pain of soldiers’ families was exploited for political interests. The funerals were abused to put pressure on the government.
At every funeral attended by government and AK Party officials, in every condolence visit, these kinds of planned, organized protests appeared. But in each case, the newspapers and TV stations reported them as if they were individual expressions of rage, spontaneous reactions expressing the anger of mourning families.
What good was there for Turkey in these psychological operations? Was terror defeated? Was the coming of new funerals prevented? Was the government toppled? Did political engineering win? Did the nation “buy” these perception operations?
These operations did nothing but weaken the fight against terrorism. Those who are doing the same thing today should not expect any other result.
Today’s acts presenting the main opposition party as a supporter of terrorism do not strengthen the fight against terror. They do not strengthen our unity, our togetherness, or our joint stance against terror. They can only divide society, disintegrate it, polarize it.
That are actually playing into the hands of the terror organization. This is the opportunity that the terrorists in the mountains are waiting for.
I hope the provocations experienced outside the Fatih Mosque never occur again.
However, I congratulate the head of the Istanbul police department, Mustafa Çalışkan. While he was burying his brothers in arms, even at his saddest moment, he kept his common sense. With timely interventions, he prevented the outbursts from growing any further.
It is our right to expect the same caution and sensitivity from all security officials who accompany such funerals: The police and the military, governors, district governors, opposition or governing politicians.
As President Erdoğan has often repeated, we should not allow those who want to divide us and set us against each other to succeed, at a time when we most need to be united. We should not give any opportunity to those who want to sow discord between us at the funerals of officials. They should not allow our political fights to infiltrate the courtyards of mosques.
The worst evil to be inflicted in this country would be for us to not be able to mourn our soldiers together.
The AK Party spokespeople have all said fighting terror is an issue above political parties. It is a national security matter that has to be regarded outside of political rivalries and clashes.
They once tried to explain that the fight against terror should not be made a tool for politics. They opposed all political shows in mosque courtyards and the abuse of soldiers’ funerals.
Isn’t it our right to expect the same sensitivity now?
