Response

Today’s 101st anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic, by Kemal Atatürk, coincides with the Kurdish solution initiative launched by the Turkish government, through the mouth of its government partner Devlet Bakhceli. An initiative that was overshadowed by the PKK terrorist attack that killed 7 in Ankara on October 23 and that triggered a wave of Turkish military airstrikes in northern Syria targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces Kurds.

“The Republic of Turkey does not have a Kurdish problem”

However, on the occasion of today’s national holiday, Nationalist Action Party (MIR) chairman Devlet Bakhceli sent a message of national unity and claimed that Turkey does not have a Kurdish problem.

“While our country’s neighboring geographies are seething and driven into chaos, those who resist the proclamation of national unity and brotherhood and those who are even stubbornly clinging to the language of terrorism are not on the right track. The Republic of Turkey does not have a Kurdish problem and never will. It has a problem of separatist terrorism and this betrayal will definitely be rooted out,” he said in his message.

Pro-government analysts praise Bakhceli’s “political courage” which they say acted as an icebreaker and a lightning rod that drew all the lightning in a time of war in the Middle East, putting the state ahead of his party. However, others believe that the plan has already failed, following yesterday’s announcement by the pro-Kurdish party DEM that it did not mention anything “about the PKK handing over weapons”, a condition set by Ankara.

In his own message for today’s national anniversary, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said, “We are taking every precaution to protect the country’s survival and security at a time when the borders in our region are drawn with blood and tears, as they were a century ago.” , he warned that “Neither the terrorist organizations, nor those who try to cover our region with blood and fire with expansionist ambitions, nor the imperialists who support and nurture them can prevent our struggle from reaching its goal”.

With a more careful analysis of the statements of the Turkish leadership, it becomes increasingly clear that, in addition to the political interest of the Turkish president to attract the votes of the pro-Kurdish party to achieve constitutional reform that will allow him a third presidential term, we must also add his concern about the strengthening of Kurdish entities outside Turkey, notably the Syrian Kurds, whose alliance with the Americans against ISIS has made them indispensable partners. However, press reports indicate that the Turkish president will make a comprehensive assessment of the Kurdish peace initiative tomorrow, during the meeting of his parliamentary group.