“The situation is very tough on the ground and the number of casualties since July until this day has grown up to more than 1000 people including 300 losses by Turkish security. This is a very big number for such a short period therefore if it intensifies we can predict that these numbers will grow to two-fold three-fold in a much shorter period so I wouldn’t even dare to imagine what the situation in Turkey might be,” the president said.
Talking about the proposed negotiations by the Kurdish side, Kurkcu said, “It is better to take Cemil Bayik seriously not only for the predictions that he is making but also for the offer that he is presenting to sit around negotiation table.”
“Even if the Turkish government would not yield on the PKK’s own campaign it doesn’t mean that society will remain inept, and the tension currently is not only on the political level but also on social and cultural level. This will very quickly bring Turkey to the brink of internal conflict and none of us would want to witness that".
Moreover, Ankara has been repeatedly accused of condoning the jihadist group and even doing business with it when a relative of President Erdogan bought oil from Daesh.
Since the collapse of the ceasefire the Turkish government has launched a fierce military campaign against the PKK.
Discussing the Turkish government’s policy toward resolving the conflict with the Kurds, Kurkcu said, “Both the Turkish prime minister and the president of Turkey are speaking about not engaging in any negotiations until the last terrorist is liquidated. This language is not a political language. If it is an internal conflict, the politician, the ruling party and the head of the state cannot speak this way because these people are also citizens of Turkey.”
Kurkcu further said, “The Turkish government must take this call for negotiations very seriously because the number of causalities on the Turkish security’s side is also bigger than the government admits and there are very many reports spreading in the Turkish press that the Turkish Special Forces are now wary and they do not want to fight for an undetermined period, so even the security officials want to see an exit plan from this conflict.”
In an interview with the BBC the leader of PKK said the group doesn’t want to separate from Turkey and create a separate state. “We want to live within the borders of Turkey, on our land freely,” said Cemil Bayik in response to government’s statement that the Kurdistan Workers Party wants to divide the country.
Talking about the conflict itself, Kurkcu said that it is a politico-cultural and identity issue which has occupied the Turkish agenda for the last century. “The president cannot speak about domestic problems like a commander of anarmed battalion fighting against the enemy’s army. This is not the situation here.”
