Armed resistance and independence movements in Kurdish territories in Turkey are nothing new in the country’s recent history. Once bonds are made they are hard to break, so there are bound to be consequences to this newfound cooperation between the Kurdish people and their representatives.
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The increasingly radical character of both organizations’ actions – taking up arms against security forces and lynching innocent civilains, respectively – serves little goal but to widen the gap that already exists between the Kurdish and Turkish populations of Turkey. The PKK, in turn, is devoting resources to helping Kurds in Syria and Iraq defend themselves against Islamic State.
The AKP government has cracked down on political opponents and the media, put cities and towns under military and paramilitary occupation, unleashed mob violence against ethnic minorities and launched air wars against two neighbouring countries. In the Sonecek household, the battle became a focal point of conversations and a passionate obsession for Ronat.
In the 1990s, the PKK briefly tried to expel Turkish forces from southeastern towns, such as Semdinli and Cizre, by using hundreds of fighters to create “liberated areas”.
Ronat’s story is not unique.
Konca and Dogan were brought into government after an inconclusive election in June, which led to the formation of a caretaker cabinet tasked with running the country until fresh elections on November 1.
The PKK affiliates are a confusing alphabet soup of acronyms.
Instead of 400 seats in Turkey’s 550-seat parliament, which Erdogan had called for, the AKP ended up with 258, less than its previous 312 and not enough to govern alone.
“I can nearly say there is no difference between these groups”. “The ideas and the people are the same, only the regions are different”. Many will likely seek to express their will through organisations deemed illegitimate by the state, such as the PKK.
The group, which stated it’s preventing for larger Kurdish autonomy, is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. America also supports Turkey´s right to self-defense, but at the same time urges cooperation with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which is seen by Turkey as an offshoot of the PKK. “One day the PYD will act on its own, however as a teenager, to survive it still needs its father’s support”.
On Saturday, the military said it had killed at least 55 militants in attacks on PKK camps in northern Iraq.
At an “anti-terrorism rally” this weekend, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan looked out over a sea of red national flags and implored supporters to vote on Nov.1 for “domestic” candidates.
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Last week, Erdogan approved an order to transfer responsibility for the nation’s counterterrorism operations from governors to the military, which has been raiding the homes of suspected PKK and ISIS affiliates since July.
