Daily Times

Twin blasts rocked a peace rally in Ankara being attended by leftists and Kurds to protest the renewed armed hostilities between the Turkish state’s military and Kurdish militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The blasts killed approximately 100 participants and injured more than 250. The attack has been described as the deadliest terrorist action in Turkish history and occurred a mere three weeks before Turkey is set to head to the polls for the second time this year in snap elections. The rally was heavily attended by members of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which, in a coalition with the leftist parties, is shaping up as a key opposition force to the sitting government’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). The scene of the blasts was littered with dead bodies carrying the slogans and banners of the HDP. The conflict between the Kurds and the Turkish state goes back three decades to 1984 but was in recent years on the path towards peace as the government and PKK were engaged in negotiations and a truce was being observed. However, in the June elections this year the AKP was dealt a major blow and failed to form a government based on an outright majority and the HDP, with support from both the Kurdish and the leftist sections of Turkish society, achieved a historical first and gained enough votes to have its representatives in parliament. After this shock, the government’s paranoia about giving up political space to Kurdish and leftist parties due to its ongoing negotiations persuaded it to hit the PKK hard; hostilities have since been renewed.

The blasts targeting pro-Kurdish forces are a consequence of an environment created by the government itself. Eyewitnesses report how in the aftermath of the attack the police, rather than providing cover and support to the victims, started brutalising the panicked protesters with tear gas and blocked the paths of ambulances. At best, to use the word loosely, this horrifying police behaviour was merely a reflection of the brazen anti-Kurdish, anti-leftist sentiments present in the state institutions; at worst, in a plausible scenario, the government’s complicity in the attacks cannot be ruled out because of this police behaviour. The wild speculative statements of the sitting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that in addition to the IS, Kurdish militants or far-left groups could be behind the bombing are deflection from the real issue at its worst. AKP and its long term leader Erdogan have had electoral success for more than a decade and it seems as if the party has become addicted to power as it has taken on an increasingly authoritarian bent. It needs to realize that credible opposition is a reality of a democratic system and it is digging a hole for its longevity, not to mention putting Turkey’s stability at risk, if it persists with this off-putting bulldozing attitude. *