Are PKK Fighters Moving to Syria?
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu claims Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters are withdrawing from Turkey toward Syria to fight against the Assad regime, writes Tulin Daloglu.
The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, believes the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) does not really see the risks its policies are posing for the country’s unity and security.
“While the crisis is deepening in our neighboring country, Syria, and the Kurdish groups in Syria’s north gain power, the AKP’s decision to start negotiations with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] gives the impression that there is also a set of regional calculations on the agenda,” he said today, May 10, at a media event entitled “CHP’s Proposal and Priorities for Democracy, Rule of Law and Societal Peace.” Kilicdaroglu listed 19 reasons why CHP keeps its distance from the AKP’s negotiations with the PKK.
While there is nothing new about politicians clashing over ideas, the differences between Turkey’s political camps are so wide that there seems to be no common vision for the future. It's not that people don’t want peace and prosperity as a regional power, but the opposition holds that the risks that the AKP is taking are so huge that failure will cost the country dearly, and will potentially set off a bigger struggle to keep peace at home.
The Erdogan government, however, feels so confident that it neither listens to such warnings nor cares to build bridges in parliament with the opposition parties. There seems to be no culture of consensus building in today's Turkey, just bitter criticism of one another. Erdogan loves to remind us that a majority of the eligible voters elected him to office, and that’s all that matters.
