Turkey entering a vicious cycle of crack-downs and terror

TURKEY - In Brief 14 Mar 2016 by Atilla Yesilada

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Hours after we e-mailed our Weekly Tracker, where we warned of PKK’s intentions to wreak havoc in Western cities, a BMW car laden with explosives detonated in the busy Kizilay Square of Ankara, killing 34 and injuring 125 innocent civilians. 17 of the injured are in critical condition, meaning that the death toll could rise quickly. While premier Davutoglu refused to pin the blame on a specific organization, we strongly suspect it would end up being PKK or one of its pseudo-splinter groups like Kurdish Freedom Hawks (TAK). To make matters worse, according to opposition daily Cumhuriyet the police is searching 20 more cars packed with bombs, which will potentially target shopping centers, airports and other high-traffic civilian centers. To put this terror incident in context, let me make two observations. On Monday, Nusaybin of Mardin and Yuksekova of Hakkari Provinces were brought under curfew, with tanks supporting military and police troops to chase down reported 2K terrorists. No doubt, innocent civilians will be killed in the “purge” process, adding more names to the list of those who wish to volunteer as suicide bombers for PKK. Also during the week, the police detained HDP’s Izmir city council chairwoman on suspicion of aiding and abetting terror. In a separate crack-down 43 names including a college dean were arrested for being members of the Fethullah Gulen terror organization. This means very valuable intelligence and security sources are wasted on chasing down enemies of Erdogan or legitimate politicians who commit no crimes other than supporting PKK’s call for autonomy for Kurds. In summary, I propose with great trepidation that as long as the security forc...