Kurdish Militant Attacks Escalate While Turkish Politicians Bicker
Attacks by Kurdish separatists in Turkey are becoming bolder and more frequent, but the government and opposition political parties appear to be at a loss as to how to curb the violence. Tulin Daloglu writes that all the Turkish political factions are using the PKK as a political football, blaming each other for supporting the PKK’s ideology.
Attacks by Kurdish separatists in Turkey are becoming bolder and more frequent, but the government and opposition political parties appear to be at a loss as to how to curb the violence.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which launched its first attack against Turkey 28 years ago, kidnapped an elected member of the Turkish parliament for the first time on Aug. 12. Huseyin Aygun, a deputy from the chief opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), was released after 48 hours and a public outcry about the abduction.
On Aug. 21 and Sept. 3, however, there were suicide bombings in Gaziantep and Beytussebap that killed nine and 10 Turkish soldiers, respectively. Altogether, Kurdish nationalist attacks on military posts have killed more than 80 soldiers since June.
While the goal of the PKK is separation from Turkey and the creation of an independent Kurdish homeland, the separatists lack the support of the majority of ethnically Kurdish citizens of Turkey and the violence has failed to spark a popular revolt.
