Sezin Öney in Taraf calls it a “paradox of Turkey” that a country which has during its history been so obsessed with being split along ethnic lines pursues policies that open the doors wide for such a split. We witness the operations of the police and gendarmerie since August 2015 and of the Turkish armed forces since November 2015 in Cizre, Sur and Silopi; by now, Silopi has been “cleansed,” as the military jargon that dominates Turkey has it. Not a finger has been lifted to help heal the wounds of the civilians who have been forced to migrate from the area.  However, these military operations are like blowing up the whole building with a nuclear weapon because you think some of the neighbors whom you don’t quite like are being disturbing.  Let’s ask those who deem excess military violence a “necessity of war;” is there going to be any security left in a society and a country in which hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced?

Hasan Cemal on t24 news site comments on a recent book by Abdullah Öcalan, “The Notes of İmralı”, about the negotiations between the Turkish government and the imprisoned leader of PKK. The book confirms that “solution” for Erdoğan meant the disarmament of PKK. And for this purpose, Erdoğan was holding out a carrot for Öcalan – his gradual liberation. Erdoğan used the “solution process” only to win votes at the ballot. Or he started the process with only this objective in mind. The book shows that Öcalan was always clearly aware that Erdoğan at some point was going to reopen the door for a period of violence. My two main impressions after reading the book are first that Öcalan this time was not fooled by the classical tactics of the Turkish state to drive a wedge between Kandil and Öcalan and to split the PKK. Second, one has to salute Öcalan for the leading role for peace that he plays today, despite having endured solitary confinement in a cell for fifteen years. Lastly: If we say solution and peace, then we have to acknowledge that Öcalan’s leading role is vitally important.

Levent Gültekin on Diken news site notes that some have been encouraged by the fact that Erdoğan has accepted to meet with Kurdish politician Leyla Zana, that hopes for peace have been kindled for this reason. Asking for rights and liberties for only one part of society when there is no democracy… We have already seen that this is not possible. The peace process during two and a half years showed us that it is only childish to expect result from negotiations when democracy is regressing and authoritarianism is on the rise. The Kurdish political movement pretended not to see the rising authoritarianism in the country. It acted as if “there can be peace even without democracy, the problem can be solved.” We are now paying the heavy price for that baseless illusion and for that wrong policy. And they are still persisting with the same mistake. They still think that the Kurds can get their democratic rights when the country itself has become authoritarian. I’m really curious when they are going to realize that this simply isn’t possible.