Politicians in southeast, east may be provided with weapon licenses: Turkish interior minister

AFYON

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Politicians assigned to the southeastern and eastern regions of Turkey may be provided with weapons licenses, Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said, commenting on the recent murders of politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“They want to reach the point where no politics can be made and you can’t even take a step. We will give weapons licenses to those doing politics there [in the east and southeast] and to provincial heads,” Soylu told journalists at an AKP camp in the western province of Afyon, adding that new efforts were underway to protect politicians targeted by the PKK.

“The organization [PKK] wants to make us unable to do politics in the region. We will use the village guards as personal guards if necessary,” he also said. 

Noting that security would also be raised for village guards, Soylu said the ministry had shared the plans with Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım. Soylu also said developments in Syria had had ramifications in Turkey since 2013 and that Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), PKK and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attacks had three intentions.

“They want to destabilize Turkey. They want to thwart Turkey’s interests in the region and prevent Turkey from observing [developments] by keeping it busy. Their aim is to make Turkey seem like a country that’s ungovernable,” he said. “The terrorist organizations want to destabilize Turkey and want to create chaos.” 
Three politicians from the AKP have been killed by the PKK in the east and southeastern provinces of Turkey. 
PKK militants opened fire on Deryan Aktert, the AKP’s district chairman in the Dicle district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, while he was at his workplace on Oct. 10.       

On Oct. 9, another local AKP politician was killed by a group of PKK militants in the Özalp district of the eastern province of Van.

According to a statement from the Van Governor’s Office, Aydın Muştu, the party’s district deputy head, was shot dead after he resisted the group’s attempt to seize his minibus outside his home.

Another politician from the AKP was killed in an armed attack in the Şemdinli district of the eastern province of Hakkari on Sept. 14.

Ahmet Budak, who was the AKP’s Hakkari candidate in the Nov. 1, 2015, elections, was killed while his son was with him, Doğan News Agency reported.

Budak was shot as he was returning home from a visit to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday with his son when unknown assailants shot him in front of his house.