Is It Combat Against Terror Or What?

The interim government, the extension of the 13-year Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule, has begun to wage war against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and particularly the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), following the Suruç massacre.
The pro-government media has paid attention to the fight against the PKK and launched a smear campaign against the People's Democratic Party (HDP). The government of acting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has implemented the plan devised in the presidential palace and taken Turkey into a bloody process. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ended the settlement process that he had previously suspended. He has used the PKK's attacks, which the government claimed were retaliation after the Suruç massacre, as the pretext and justification for doing this. Warplanes bombed PKK camps in the north of Iraq and domestic security forces started ambitious operations against the HDP inside the country.
There are also operations against ISIL supporters, but it appears that the HDP is the real target. It is possible to see this if we look at the headlines of the pro-government media, which abandoned the settlement process and promoted war in its place. Why is the HDP a target for the AKP and Erdoğan? The answer to this question will help us to better understand why the interim AKP government has started this new process.
You may recall that after the HDP launched an election campaign to ensure that Erdoğan would not introduce a presidential system, they became a target for Erdoğan and his media. During the election campaign, Erdoğan strongly criticized the HDP and presented the party as an extension and collaborator of a terror organization. There was an obvious reason for this propaganda. If the HDP were to pass the 10 percent election threshold, the AKP would be unable to win the majority of seats in Parliament.
With the election process over, Erdoğan briefly fell silent before resuming his strong campaign. Now he has attacked the HDP again. This stance is another part of his wider agenda to create the circumstances that he hopes will lead to an early election, because Erdoğan does not want a coalition government. He hit the button for a new election that is to return the AKP to power with a majority government. To do this, it was necessary to create the right environment in the country. The atmosphere he is seeking would be likely to attract the support of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voters to the AKP and entice some of the voters who supported the HDP in the June 7 elections back to the AKP. Overall, the public should conclude that it is impossible to have a government without the AKP.

First, they argued that it was necessary to interfere with Syria by referencing the Democratic Union Party (PYD) that defeated ISIL in the north of Syria. They promoted publications and reports that said the PYD, which attracted the support of the public in the West because of its effective struggle against ISIL in Syria, was more dangerous than ISIL. But the real opportunity was the ISIL massacre in Suruç.
The AKP, which has been strongly criticized for its inaction in dealing with ISIL, changed the whole atmosphere by using PKK attacks. It allowed the US to use the Turkish military base in Incirlik, bombed ISIL spots in Syria and ensured that the West would continue to be a bystander to the new process it started.
“The fight against terror” is the pretext for this war. The real goal of the Davutoğlu government -- which submitted to the presidential palace and its plans -- is to take the country into a new election to ensure that the AKP wins back its majority in Parliament.
This will be a dirty war; we have already seen killings in different parts of the country and peace demonstrations banned. There is an unnamed martial law order. Civilians as well as security forces have become the targets of terror attacks.
AKP figures deliver messages of unity and solidarity; they refer to the fight against terror; but this is a war of the AKP and it is a dangerous plan that they have devised for power. The forces of peace and democracy are now embroiled in a difficult test.

CAFER SOLGUN (Cihan/Today's Zaman)