Turkish ambassador: US daily promoting PKK agenda
Serdar Kilic says portraying operations against terror group as means to gain votes mirrors PKK propaganda
Turkey’s Ambassador to Washington said Tuesday that portraying operations against the PKK as a way to garner votes ahead of elections next month “echoes the terrorist organization’s propaganda”.
Serdar Kilic’s comments came in response to an Oct. 1 editorial in the Washington Post that accused Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of "destabilizing the nation in his quest for more power," referring to the resumption of operations against PKK in July.
It also claimed that the Turkish military broke a two-year cease-fire with the terror group after Turkey agreed to take part in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against Daesh.
"The continued acts of terrorism by the PKK, even during the peace process, lie at the heart of Turkey’s recent actions to defend its citizens and public order," Kilic said. "To portray these as an ill-conceived attempt of the government to win the upcoming elections distorts the facts and echoes the terrorist organization’s propaganda."
The governing AK Party under Erdogan launched a democratic reformation process in 2009, including a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue to end PKK terrorism.
Since then, casualties from the conflict between the PKK and Turkish armed forces have been minimized and the government lifted bans on the Kurdish language as well as allowed the intelligence service to talk to the terrorist group's leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is imprisoned on Imrali Island on the Marmara Sea.
Kilic said in his letter to the Post that it was PKK that declared an end to the peace process in July after it claimed responsibility for killing two Turkish police officers in the southeastern province of Adiyaman.
As of Sept. 29, according to the Turkish government, the terror group has martyred 130 members of the Turkish police, gendarmerie and military, and 43 civilians have been killed while 536 security personnel and 288 civilians wounded in less than three months.
Turkish security forces have killed more than 2,000 PKK members in operations inside Turkey since operations began July 22, according to the Turkish interior ministry.
"No responsible government could be expected to refrain from taking action while its law enforcement personnel and civilians are being murdered by a terrorist organization that is designated as such by the international community, including the United States and European Union," Kilic said.
As the Turkish parties could not form a coalition government following the June elections in which the AK Party lost its majority in Parliament to establish a single party government, Erdogan ruled for new elections Nov. 1.
In addition to the political impasse, Turkey has been grappling with several other problems including the fight against Daesh, continuing refugee influx and PKK terrorism.
Turkey agreed to join the U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against Daesh in late July and allowed American jets to fly from the Incirlik Air base in the southern province of Adana by early August.
At the very same time PKK intensified its attacks in eastern and southeastern cities and towns.
