Turkish spring might begin: MHP official

KONYA / DİYARBAKIR

‘Turkish Spring is being started in the wake of Arab Spring’ says MHP deputy chairman Faruk Bal.

The government’s policies on the Kurdish issue have led to the emergence of a “Turkish Spring” in the wake of the Arab Spring that could have disastrous effects on the country’s unity, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has said.

“The economic and social problems experienced under the guise of ‘the national unity and brotherhood opening,’ in the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey caused a result that could end up with Turkey’s division,” MHP deputy chairman Faruk Bal said in a statement on Aug. 20 during a visit to the Central Anatolian province of Konya, adding that recent incidents in Şemdinli, the eastern district that witnessed weeks of intense fighting between the military and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were reflections of what has happened in northern Syria, where local Kurdish groups have assumed control.

“The PKK would have used hit-and-run tactics in Şemdinli before. But this time, the organization gave up this tactic and fought a war of position with the army of the Republic of Turkey. The PKK’s fight against the armed forces without leaving the field for more than 22 days in Şemdinli, and its engagement in the combat, hint that a ‘Turkish Spring’ is being started in the wake of the Arab Spring,” Bal said.

Meanwhile, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Gültan Kışanak and independent deputy Aysel Tuğluk, who was elected with the support of the BDP, told an Aug. 20 press conference in Diyarbakır that groups who had entered villages in Hakkari, Şemdinli and Yüksekova after the fight had become face to face with the “bare facts” about the battle.

“At the exit of Şemdinli, we saw the tanks equipped with the latest technology, a barricade with soldiers and the guerillas who were a few kilometers away from that barricade. Although these things are not discussed nowadays, they constitute the bare truth,” Kışanak said. “If you close your eyes and stay in a mood which avoids understanding this picture, you will spoil this country. Everyone should see this fact.” “It is necessary to see the reality of Şemdinli as a new phase in the Kurdish problem. Regarding this as a new period in the 30-year struggle and correctly defining it is essential,” Tuğluk said, adding that she evaluated the Aug. 17 encounter as a “meeting.” “We do not regard them as terrorists. They are the youth who had to take up arms. There are some insulting comments on the meeting [in the media]. I think everyone should meet the guerillas and listen to them. Then steps leading to a solution and peace could be taken,” Tuğluk said.