SABAH- Columnist Gungor Mengi writes on the terrorist organization PKK’s change of name. A summary of his column is as follows:
The PKK has taken the expected turn and changed its name to PAG and with this decision called itself the ‘People’s Freedom Party.’ As it is established by the PKK, it is reasonable to expect that PAG will be a party, or at least as much as the PKK was one. Can there be a party made up of hordes of murderers established with the aim of dividing the nation and the country, and who killed 30,000 people. The PKK was the bloodiest, most ruthless terrorist organization of the recent past. While it keeps the remnants of its armed bandits left after its defeat in the mountains as a threat, it cannot convince anyone with any common sense that it will no longer engage in armed actions and has instead become a ‘party’. If the opportunity to wash the blood off the hands of the terrorists is granted this easily, terrorism will continue without end. It is impossible to believe that PKK has adopted a new identity by simply removing the words ‘communist’ and ‘Kurdistan’ from its name for now. A political party does not deal in armed threats. Any such organization is called a terrorist organization throughout the entire world. The main issue here is to formulate new policies which will not damage our national goals. We must not leave aside issues to our country’s potential benefit with the sheer reasoning that ‘they too want it,’ as societies ruled not even by their minds but by their complexes are governed by their enemies. The separatist organization, during its congress where it changed its name, decided to give support to campaigns for Kurdish radio-TV, education in Kurdish and abolition of the death penalty. These are among the medium-term goals Turkey has promised to keep to be admitted to the EU. Our society is already discussing them and has even covered some distance in accomplishing them. It is a ploy, a trap by the separatist organization to show itself as a player in to these discussions and to try to provoke a social reaction and increase the power of those opposed to reforms. When these reforms are carried out, the administrators of the organization who are responsible for so many murders will be left in the lurch, and will be left tongue-tied trying to explain why they persist in maintaining armed militants in the mountains. However, if their ploy in provoking the public and Parliament takes hold, they will continue to find supporters for the role of ‘underdog’ they are playing. Where is the self-confidence we must have as a nation which has defeated terrorism? We must be self-confident and govern ourselves instead of being governed by others.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION