LICE, Diyarbakir – As Turkey’s new government promised to pursue the stalled peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), tensions with the Kurds remained high in the Diyarbakir town of Lice.
Here, the aftermath of protests over the statue of a late PKK war hero, in which a 24-year-old demonstrator was killed, continues to rumble, with suspicions that opponents of peace are trying to sabotage the process.
In his latest promise, Turkey’s new Prime Minister Ahmed Davotuglu said that resolving the Kurdish issue is among his government’s top priorities, and urged public support for the bid to end the three-decade conflict.
"The targets of the new roadmap are: ending terrorism, disarmament, bringing (militants) into society and participation in democratic policy," Turkey’s Anadolu Agency quoted Davutoglu as saying in the Turkish parliament.
In Lice, locals remain divided over who is to blame for the trouble, with some blaming opponents of peace and others blaming the rebels for acting provocatively.
The events in Lice triggered clashes with security forces in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast, with protesters attacking statues of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in Hakkari, Batman and Mardin.
In Lice, the locals say it was the security forces that attacked the protesters.
In a press release shared on Firatnews.com, the PKK stated that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “should stop the attacks.”
“The attacks on Lice are a continuation of the policy that has denied and killed the Kurds,” the press release stated.
Baran Yilmaz, a shoe salesman in Lice, believes the authorities should have acted more peacefully.
"They should have handled this in a different way, without any killing," he said.
Kadir Erbas, a taxi driver, said that extreme forces on both sides want to sabotage the peace process, which began in 2013.
"Those who erected the statue no doubt knew well that it will be demolished. We do not want more war and violence, we want peace. But someone creates provocation in order to sabotage the peace process," Erbas said.
Meanwhile, Turkish armed forces chief of staff Necdet Ozel warned the new Ankara government about crossing “red lines” in efforts to end the Kurdish insurgency.
“We have made clear that we will do and say whatever necessary if our red lines have been crossed,” he said. These include “territorial integrity,” he added.
Huseyin Seyhanlioglu, associate professor at Diyarbakir’s Dicle University, said that opponents of the peace process are trying to achieve their aim: stop the process.
"It is not the right time to erect such a statue, just after Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said that peace talks will continue,” Seyhanlioglu said.
"In addition, such a statue, which shows Korkmaz (the PKK hero) dressed for battle and with a rifle by his side, will infuriate Western Turkey," he added, predicting similar incidents would continue.
A lawmaker of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and officials of the recently renamed Democratic Regions Party (DBP) had attended the unveiling of the statue.
But the PKK has not claimed responsibility for erecting it. PKK Central Committee member Duran Kalkan criticized the erection of the statue and urged young Kurds to stay calm.
"Those who erected the statue damage our cause and do not serve the process," Kalkan said, quoted by the Turkish newspaper Radikal.
