News:
AK Party Deputy Prime Minister said: “We are determined to pursue the resolution process until the end. Whoever wants to terminate it; 90% of the job is done already. 90% of the river has passed; there is no turning back. We are almost there.”
Comment:
It is possible to evaluate the Deputy Prime Minister’s statement in the following ways:
1.- The government has paved the way for the growth of the protests initiated by the PKK, HDP and their extensions in several cities across Turkey through its delayed interference.
2-The government wanted the PKK – against whom it is struggling for 30 years – and its extension in Syria, the PYD, to be defeated by ISIL and to suffer a loss of image in the public opinion of Turkey as well as of the world.
3.-The government has accepted more than 200,000 refugees from Kobane, and Prime Minister Davutoglu has sought to break the backing of the PKK and the HDP in society during his several speeches through statements like, “They know best how to destroy, we know best how to build.”
4.-The attacks on the flags and the busts of Mustafa Kemal during the protests of HDP and PKK has led to the division of HDP, CHP and other left-wing groups, who acted together during the Gezi Park protests.
5.- Cutting throats, throwing down and burning people just due to their Islamic identities, have increased reactions especially among Kurdish people against the protests by the HDP and PKK.
6.- The government seeks to show these protests to the public as a clash between the PKK and Hizbullah. However, Hüda Par and the Turkish Hizbullah did react against these attacks on their sympathizers and members only in self-defense.
7.- The government tried to demonstrate to the people of the region that if they do not support the resolution process, there will arise an environment similar to that in the 1990s.
8.- After the escalation of the incidents, the government sent soldiers to the city centers and increased the police’s power of intervention, while declaring a state of emergency in some provinces after many years, and made an investment in the other groups of the society starting the year 2015.
9.- In the aftermath of these protests, Prime Minister Davutoglu, President Erdogan and other government officials, declared that the resolution process will continue no matter what comes. Indeed, the statements of HDP co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas confirm this.
As a conclusion, the government came out better off of this process, while the HDP and PKK suffered a loss with regards to their support of the people and their image, and got weakened.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
By Hamzah