Who will undermine the settlement process?
The masses have been divided again. Society has been polarized once again into "those who oppose the settlement process" and "those who support the settlement process."
But in order to not end up in a wretched state at the end, we have to find a middle ground, a straight path. Each polarization leads us to act irrationally. Once you assume that the thing you support is completely good, recognizing the "bad" in this "good" become impossible or vice versa: When you have judged that something is wrong, it then becomes impossible to see the right parts of it. In Turkey, each vital issue has tried to be solved by playing the blind man's bluff, and there are still such cases.
Let's say that you support the settlement process. Is it not possible that some mistakes might be made at some stage of the settlement process, that there at least might be incomplete or incorrect information or that we might find ourselves in places which we did not intend to be in because of misinterpretations? Let's assume that you are opposed to the settlement process; is that a reasonable excuse to ignore the correct moves made to solve the terrorism issue? However, as is the case in any kind of issue, polarization which prevents society from acting in a reasonable way causes an eclipse of reason on this issue as well.
Almost every segment of society wants terrorism to stop. This is why every possible method has been attempted and will continue to be attempted in order to put an end to terrorism. These efforts include talks which some state institutions conducted with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Yet, while conducting these talks, there are some sensitive points that we need to pay attention to. As part of the natural course of the settlement process, people may view the process with suspicion because of these sensitive points. The essential point is this: Instead of ignoring the concerns of those who are opposed to the settlement process, we need to take their concerns into consideration, act with common sense and try to reach a social consensus.
This newspaper has never been against the settlement process, but we have also never ignored people's concerns about it. As was also recently underlined by the members of the Wise People Committee, no media organization should ignore the concerns of the people. One of the members of the Wise People Committee said: "The concerns of those who do not support the settlement process should not be disregarded. The people's questions should be responded to properly." This is where the Zaman daily stands.
For example, Ali Bulaç, a columnist with Zaman and Today's Zaman who has lent great support to the settlement process from the very beginning, wrote an article in the Zaman daily titled "Kaygılar, uyarılar..." (Concerns and warnings) on April 25, listing his 10 major concerns about the settlement process. There is nothing wrong with voicing these concerns in a fair manner. No one wants to see well-intentioned efforts end up in smoke, and in order not to say "if only..." at the end, we should brainstorm by saying "I wonder if..." Well-intentioned efforts take well-intentioned concerns into consideration. We do not need to waste our energies by paying attention to ill-intended criticisms.
As a matter of fact, the source of these concerns is the PKK's inconsistent and provocative statements, unreliable behavior and hypocritical attitudes. And the PKK operatives in the Kandil Mountains and PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı Island, who have blamed the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and hurled harsh criticism at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for being insincere about the settlement process until very recently, are now trying to benefit from the current situation by creating a number of awkward excuses. Should we regard this change as a sign that the PKK has been guided to the straight path, or is it just another tactical move by the terrorist organization?
One of the PKK's other targets is the Hizmet movement. Murat Karayılan, the PKK military wing's number one, who named Erdoğan as a target one week before the leaking of the transcripts of the Oslo meetings between the PKK and government representatives, started blaming the movement for undermining the peace process. Once he attacked the movement, many other pro-PKK websites took action to unjustly associate the movement with each terrible incident, including the killing of three Kurdish women linked to the PKK in Paris in January and the Uludere tragedy in which 34 smugglers were mistakenly killed by the military in Şırnak's Uludere district on Dec. 28, 2011. It is hard to understand what sort of black propaganda this is.
At this point, are the people who are able to act fairly and conscientiously and fight injustice expected to say "This is unacceptable"? Alas! Some of our friends who support the settlement process are ready to turn a blind eye to this injustice "for the sake of the process." This is why they have not entered this minefield. But the PKK is resorting to all sorts of lies, slander and black propaganda to point to the innocent masses as a target.
Since those with common sense and a conscience are remaining silent in the face of these unjust accusations, we are justified in responding to these unjust accusations. Then some people accused us of being opposed to the settlement process while others blame us for undermining the process. And they silently accept not reacting to these arrogant PKK supporters' unjust accusations and abandoning their friends who had to defend themselves. Forgetting a certain group's admiration for the PKK, acting irrespective of your will as if you are being dragged by a flood and playing down the situation as a so-called tension between the movement and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is nothing but a historic mistake, isn't it?
No one who loves this country will block the peace process. However, what we face is a devilish organization that has constantly failed to keep its word. On the one hand, the PKK is trying to give the impression that it is ready to withdraw from the country, but on the other, it is working on certain goals in neighboring and European countries.
Who will undermine this process? The answer is easy: The one who is waiting in hiding and who is ready to destroy peace in the country. How on the earth can people who have never even disdained an ant undermine the peace process? Those who act with mercy and compassion can only raise their sincere concerns. What is more natural than this? And how about those who derive their power from blood, weapons and bombs? They are the ones who can sabotage the process.
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