The Turkish government's new initiative to strip citizenship from people suspected of supporting "terrorism" could further destabilize the country's society, Kani Xulam, Kurdish activist and director at the American Kurdish information network, told Radio Sputnik.
Turkey will work on a new rule to strip citizenship from Turks found to be supporting terrorism, the justice minister said on Wednesday, a day after President Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted such a measure. Earlier, Erdogan called to expand the definition of terrorism to journalists, activists and others who "exploit their positions, pens and titles and put them at terrorists' disposal."
"Now, he wants to say that anyone who challenges him, anybody who goes off the script, is going to be stripped of their citizenship. This is a recipe for civil war, conflict and instability," Xulam told Radio Sputnik.
"The problem that the country faces, is to address the Kurdish question, [Daesh] is in Syria, it has a border with Turkey, which Turkey doesn't seem to be bothered by. But when the Kurds take control of that border, Turkey goes ballistic," Xulam told Radio Sputnik.
According to Xulam, Erdogan has by some accounts unleashed Daesh to fight the Kurds. However, Russian and US support of Syrian Kurds has made Erdogan feel cornered, which is why new internal policies are being pursued, Xulam said.
