Crossroads for Kurdish politics

The March 13 terrorist attack in Ankara openly questions which path the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will now take. On the one hand the PKK has created an image of civil war in the southeast with its attempt to impose “autonomy” through trenches and barricades; on the other hand it has now terrorized the west of the country with suicide bombers.

Before the latest Ankara attack, the PKK declared that it had united with nine other terrorist organizations, supposedly for “the fraternity of the people and democracy.”
 
Since when has the path to the fraternity of the people passed through killing innocent people with suicide bombers? What they are doing has nothing to do with the freedom of the people, democracy, or socialism.

The path the PKK has entered is called “terrorism” anywhere in the world. So at this point, legal Kurdish political actors should openly display their position.

The situation we are in demands a clear stance. You cannot go on simply emptily condemning massacres.
   
Will Kurdish politics struggle for democratic rights through legal channels, or will it continue to remain under the guardianship of the PKK while condemning this vicious violence on the surface? 

They should be able to see now that they are at a crossroads.

Islamists, Kurdish nationalists and fascism 

After the armed “autonomy” attempts that resulted in the destruction of Sur, Cizre and Silopi, now curfews have been declared for operations in Şırnak, Nusaybin and Yüksekova.

It has been reported that there are many barricades, trenches and planted bombs in these towns. Apparently we will be seeing similar scenes in these towns: Ruined houses, ruined schools, ruined mosques and hundreds of deaths.

The future of local children will be stolen from them because they will not be able to go to school. Shopkeepers will go bankrupt. 

Is it possible for the PKK chiefs to not be able to see what results emerge from armed “autonomy” attempts after events in Sur, Cizre and Silopi?

No it is not. Actually they know better than us how this business will end. We know that over 1,000 PKK militants have died in Sur, Cizre and Silopi - and some of them were very young indeed. The same thing will happen in the new cities where operations will be conducted. 

The PKK chiefs are sending young people to their death. They know what will happen; they want destruction and fire. 

We do not yet know which cities are next after Şırnak, Yüksekova and Nusaybin. Apparently, the PKK took advantage of the peace process to stock up ammunition in cities across the southeast, digging ditches and erecting barricades. We do not know how many more cities will end up in ruins like Sur, Cizre and Silopi. 

It would be naïve to think that PKK chiefs, after this point, will suddenly become wiser and decide not to send their men to death, dragging local populations into more poverty.