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DARBAKIR NATO accused of “spreading terrorism” in Turkey Ankara’s unrest stems from the links between the Gülen movement and the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and not from any “national will”.
NATO tried to “inspire” a “snap” campaign in Turkey by stressing on the need to extradite the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said.
He added that the alliance of 28 states had been trying to “inspire a national will by spreading terrorism in Turkey” and accusing the government of failing to “rebuild the shattered [Turkish] democracy” as it was a fundamental task for any country to have a democratic system.
He went on to say that the organization had been trying to spread a discourse that “Diyarbakır has been attacked due to terrorism and therefore the government should carry out security operations and thus lead a fight against terrorism,” but that this had nothing to do with democracy and the rule of law.
Ala also expressed deep disappointment with the activities of the U.S. government and called Washington’s ally Israel to contribute to stability in Turkey.
Meanwhile, Darabşehir municipality mayor Ömer Sabri Üzer warned that if Turkey did not “take measures” to bring the operations in eastern Turkey to a complete end, the nation would turn into “a victim of terrorism” like Kurdistan.
The operations, which began on October 9, are part of the “Syrian-Armenian conflict” he claimed, adding that “our people should know that if a political solution does not happen by the end of the current season, the country will turn into a victim of terrorism like Kurdistan.”
Ala announced the suspensions of seven officials from the Darabşehir gendarmerie branch and three from the Diyarbakır police department for having links to Gülen’s movement. He went on to say that the arrests had been made as part of the ongoing operations to stop the group from spreading violence in the region.
The CHP’s spokesman, Hüseyin Çelik, accused Ala of “brushing aside the rebellion in the ranks of the state” and accused the Interior Ministry of being unable to bring an end to the “problems within the government” and protect democracy. Çelik added that the reason why Turkey was unable to escape from the crisis was due to the PKK’s occupation of the Turkish state and the ensuing chaos in the southeast, particularly the neighboring province of Şırnak. “The struggle for self-rule, which has been going on for 43 years now, has so far been led by us. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to sacrifice,” he said.
Meanwhile, the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) criticized Ankara for using the term “insurgents” to label the people carrying out anti-government protests, saying that the so-called insurgency in the southeast is a war between the Turkish state and Kurds. The HDP said on its Twitter account that “Using the term ‘insurgency’ or ‘militancy’ to describe the demands of the people in the southeast is a call for fighting. The state is a state of law and democracy, it should not force anyone to obey.”