BY TURKER ALKAN
RADIKAL- Tuesday's bomb blast in Ankara came as no surprise. Such a thing had been expected. The terrorist PKK long ago threatened to move its attacks from outlying areas to cities, and security forces have been working to prevent this. Many PKK terrorists have been captured with explosives in recent months, but unfortunately such attacks are not always preventable. As of this writing, the attack's perpetrator hasn't been identified yet, but like many, I think the attack was carried out by the terrorist PKK. Similar attacks will follow. This is one of the characteristics of terrorist groups; they don't provide clues about where, when and what sort of attack they will launch. In this way, they ensure the spread of terror, or great fear.
Firstly, when faced with such attacks, we shouldn't lose our heads. If we aren't terrorized, terrorist groups can't accomplish their goals. Secondly, such attacks shouldn't be blamed on masses of people, and there shouldn't be enmity between nations. Turks and Kurds have lived in peace for 1,000 years. One of the goals of such horrible attacks is to spoil this fellowship and sow enmity between nations. If a terrorist group succeeds in this, then it achieves its goal. On the contrary, we should seek and find ways of fostering fellowship.
Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit touched upon a very important point, when he said that many European countries, and even our allies within NATO, support the terrorist PKK and don't listen to us. He added that 30 percent of the PKK lies within our borders and the remainder is in northern Iraq, and that this is a unique international situation! But, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US, NATO declared that a member of the alliance had been attacked. But Turkey has been unable to convey to its allies the danger it faces. We should use this terrorist attack in Ankara to help explain the gravity of the situation to the EU and the US. If they protect the PKK even in such a situation, Turkey should say that a new world is needed in which Turkey will take its place. We're moving towards a multi-polar world, and Turkey might have to rework its location and situation in this world. Along with these, developments, it should be noted that the Democratic Society Party (DTP) withdrew from July's elections, criticizing the 10% threshold. Actually they will compete in the elections as independent candidates and probably establish a group in Parliament, but it would be better if the threshold were not so high, so they could compete as a party and be represented in Parliament this way. The fact that a party like the DTP won't be represented in Parliament is detrimental to democracy and efforts to ensure national unity and integration, supposing they don't again take up provocative stances.