While the presence of DTP in Parliament might be a ‘golden opportunity’ for a democratic push to end separatist terrorism, any success depends on DTP understanding the difference between legality and illegality.

With the increased speculation about the Turkish military's role in politics actual defense policy often goes under-examined.  The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) has started a process of modernizing and increasing its flexibility while exploring new roles. It has increased its involvement in joint-exercises with allied nations, added to its arsenal new and up-to-date weaponry and has started to restructure the organization of its forces. These novel steps taken by the TSK have caused a great deal of speculation into what they mean for the future of the Turkish military. Unfortunately, the majority of the coverage of these recent developments has addressed them only from a short-term perspective.

Different suggestions say that the van full of explosives found in Ankara was plotted by the PKK or by religious terrorists or by “patriotic” groups. There’s something fishy in all this. I talked to the people in Ankara that are monitoring this incident. All signs point to the PKK, but still no one is absolutely sure.

A possible withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Cyprus will not only facilitate the goals of imperialist Western nations, but it will also jeopardize the future of our kinsmen and strengthen PKK terrorists on the island.