Turkey’s war on the PKK

The recent increase in terrorist incidents in Turkey is a ploy by global and regional powers that are concerned about Turkey’s emergence as a powerful actor on the stage of history under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Clearly, their objective is to undermine Erdogan’s leadership and weaken Turkey.

These global and regional powers would like to see Turkey reduced to a weak country without influence, self-absorbed and overwhelmed with internal problems.

The endgame is to divide Turkey, and failing that, to plunge the country into political turmoil so that it is once again dependent on foreign powers. Therefore, they want the old Turkey back, the one that could be easily manipulated.

Using proxies

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is nothing more than a pawn in this game. The PKK is merely the terrorist branch of this project, which has its sights set on Erdogan’s leadership and Turkey itself.

PKK and other terrorist organisations want to turn Turkey into the next Iraq or Syria, thereby paving the way for foreign intervention. The goal of their attacks is to weaken the government by inspiring fear and public unrest.

The people of Turkey understand the intrigues of those who control the terrorist groups, which is why they continue to fully support their government.

They believe that terrorist groups should not be allowed to hold their government hostage.

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Turkey’s Kurdish population now have an opportunity to see more clearly who the PKK is really working for.

Public support for the PKK and the predominantly Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is in decline. If an election were held now, it appears that the HDP would not even meet the 10 percent electoral threshold, and would garner only 4-5 percent of the vote – a dramatic political defeat.

In line with rights and freedoms

The Turkish government’s war on terror is no longer based on the old security approach of the past, because those policies violated the very definition of democracy, and resulted in the suspension of democratic rights.

In contrast, the anti-terrorism policies of the current Turkish government aim to strengthen democracy.

Depicting the fight against the PKK terrorist group as a war on the Kurds, who are our brothers and fellow citizens, and labelling the PKK terror bosses as 'freedom fighters' is a psychological perception operation based on lies and inconsistent with friendship.

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The goal is to eliminate the PKK’s despotic oppression of Turkey’s Kurdish population through force of arms, and restore the public order necessary for everyone to live free. In the process, the government will not compromise in any way the fundamentals of democracy and the rule of law.

The Kurdish people have been demanding democracy from their own state for decades and asking for the recognition of their Kurdish identity. During the term of the Justice and Development Party (AK party), these Kurdish demands were met in the most comprehensive and powerful way.

Turkey no longer denies the Kurdish identity. Kurds live as equal citizens. It is no secret that since its founding, the PKK has been used against Turkey as an organisation with foreign ties.

When the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan was captured in 1999, he described how they had received support from Syria, but also from Russia, Greece, Iran, Germany and France. Even today, the PKK is fighting against Turkey with support from foreign powers.

The PKK’s connection with Syria, Iran and Russia is no secret. Various media have reported how the US provides indirect support to the PKK through the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is the PKK’s affiliate in Syria.

Everyone knows that the United States dropped aid supplies in northern Iraq during Operation Provide Comfort in the 1990s – these would have easily fallen into the hands of the PKK. It is a well-documented fact that some EU countries, notably Belgium, have aided and abetted the PKK.

Disturbing reality

What most disturbs Turkey is the fact that the US and the European Union – an organisation Turkey wants to be a member of – renders assistance to the PKK, sometimes openly but usually covertly, even though they have listed it as a terrorist group.

The PKK is not a product of the new Turkey that began when the AK party came to power, but of the old Turkey before the AK party.

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Some pundits have surmised that Syria has exported terrorism to Turkey because Turkey interfered in Syria’s internal affairs, but this thinking is erroneous. On the contrary, it was the Syrian regime that used and supported terrorist groups hostile to Turkey, especially the PKK, starting in the 1980s.

Therefore, Turkey expects that its US and EU friends will provide principled and strong support on the issue of terrorism.

Turkey’s war on terror is primarily focused on protecting democracy and ensuring the safety of the lives and property of the Turkish people.

Depicting the fight against the PKK terrorist group as a war on the Kurds, who are our brothers and fellow citizens, and labelling the PKK terror bosses as “freedom fighters” is a psychological perception operation based on lies and inconsistent with friendship.

We hope and pray that our friends, who are also under the threat of terrorism, will finally gain a proper perspective on just how sensitive and justified the Turkish government has been in this regard.

Now is the time for solidarity against all terrorist groups. Turkish democracy is threatened by terror and peace belongs to Turkey. Now is the time for an all-out defence of a safe democracy.

Mehmet Metiner is an AK party member of parliament and a columnist with Star newspaper. Metiner comes from the Kurdish political movement in Turkey and has published books on the subject.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.