The tension between Turkey and the Kurds is increasing
Monday was a tense day in Turkey because of the now almost eternal clash between the Turkish state and the Kurds. Several cities were the scene of a series of strong protests against the dismissal and arrest of four mayors of the opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP) accused of being linked to the guerrilla of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
This PKK group is considered a terrorist force by Turkey itself, the United States and the European Union (EU), and the relationship with the HDP has been used by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration to carry out a purge against significant elements of this left-leaning, pro-Kurdish political formation.
The four imprisoned governors ruled in south-eastern Turkey, where the majority of Kurds living in the Ottoman nation reside (a population that some sources estimate at between 15 and 20 million citizens). The government of the Eurasian country is already engaged in a long campaign against the Kurdish ethnic group, which it considers responsible for terrorist acts suffered in the south of the national territory.
The people involved are three councillors from Siirt province, including the mayor of the capital city of the same name and the mayor of the town of Igdir, a province bordering Armenia, together with the rector of the districts of Baykan and Kurtalan. They were arrested on charges of "being a member of a terrorist organization" and financing it, all of which stemmed from the aforementioned PKK nexus. The police arrested them at their homes early on Friday and the operation continued with a search of the town halls, according to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
Following this, according to the news website TR724, several Turkish cities with a significant Kurdish majority, such as Diyarbakir, Batman, Sirte, Mersin and Sirnak welcomed these popular protests against the arrest of the elected mayors and the appointment of state officials from the Ministry of Interior to replace them.
A large number of HDP members took part in these protests and those present displayed banners with slogans against Turkey's alleged abuse of the Kurdish population, on which they launched direct messages such as "we will never accept it".
The tactic of the Turkish government against the Kurds continues with a firm step. On March 9 a court of law sentenced the deposed mayor of Diyarbakir, Adnan Selcuk Mizrakli, to nine years in prison for "belonging to a terrorist organisation". In the meantime, 12 HDP deputies, the third group in the Turkish parliament, have been in prison since 2016 on charges of links with the Kurdish militias.
The Government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thus accuses the HDP of having close ties with armed groups of the PKK, which has led to the prosecution of thousands of its members and some leaders. Meanwhile, the HDP denies supporting insurgent activities.
The rigid state position against the branded common Kurdish enemy was hardened following the local elections of March 2019, in which Erdogan received a heavy electoral blow by losing important seats in the nation, such as Istanbul (the financial heart of Turkey) and Ankara (the administrative capital), which was taken over by the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), including the present mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, who is a great political rival to the leader of the presidential Justice and Development Party (AKP).
After the defeat in the municipal elections, the Turkish president accelerated a campaign of persecution of political rivals to divert attention, add popular support against a 'common enemy' and try to mitigate the political blow received with the loss of confidence of much of the citizens. Since then, affected mayors have been replaced by state officials in more than half of the 65 municipalities won by the HDP, and the central executive has appointed governors and other local authorities as circumstantial rulers in those districts. Former HDP leaders have been imprisoned since 2016 on terrorism charges, and several other prominent party members have been accused of supporting terrorism for what the Government understands to be dangerous links with the PKK.
This move at home serves to divert attention from serious problems in the country, such as the loss of confidence and the national economic crisis in the country, aggravated by the sharp drop in the Turkish lira and the halt in activity generated by the current health crisis of the COVID-19 disease. Thus, from official bodies, the attitude of the Kurds and groups such as the HDP is branded as genuine subversion and a coup d'état against national institutions.
Erdogan's tactic of opening up other fronts to divert attention and unite the population around his government also extends to the international level. Clear examples are the wars in Syria and Libya, where Turkey is playing an active role. The support for rebel militias in the Arab and North African country puts the Eurasian country in the centre of international attention and this serves the 'sultan' in trying to find arguments to strengthen his weakened political position.
Turkey's action in the context of Syria's civil war began when it entered the north of the neighbouring Middle Eastern country to harass the Kurdish-Syrians, an incursion justified by allegations of Kurdish terrorist actions in the south of Ottoman territory. Turkey occupies a security zone on the Turkish-Syrian border that was agreed with the United States Government of Donald Trump and holds various checkpoints; Russia, Turkey's circumstantial rival in the Syrian conflict, is also deployed close to these checkpoints and stands as the main ally of the regime of Bachar al-Asad, which seeks to bring down the last rebel stronghold in the north-eastern province of Idlib, under the pretext of pursuing the terrorist elements sheltered there. Precisely, the Turkish nation is singled out for supporting elements associated with the jihadist insurgency.
Turkey is also an active player in another international operation, in this case in the civil war in Libya, where it supports the Government of National Accord (GNA) of Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, who is resisting the harassment of the Libyan National Army (LNA) of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who is trying to put an end to the last pole of resistance in the capital, Tripoli (headquarters of the GNA), also under the argument of putting an end to the rebel insurgency installed in the Tripolitan city (it should be remembered, among other things, that Turkey sent jihadist mercenaries from Syria there) and then proceed to a new democratic process. Meanwhile, Sarraj denounces the materialization of a rebel coup d'état by the LNA against its Executive, internationally recognized by the UN since 2016.