Arab News
HARUN YAHYA
Article 5 of NATO was first invoked following the horrifying 9/11 terror attacks. NATO member countries accordingly regarded that terror strike as an attack on themselves and decided to act together as one. The issue of terror became NATO’s main preoccupation thereafter. There would now be no distinction between the world’s terror groups, and the fight against all terror groups would be waged collectively. In the wake of that decision, the US drew up lists of terror organizations. It included the PKK, which perpetrates bloody acts of terror in Turkey. However, the list published by the EU was rather different. Separatist groups in Europe and radical groups in the Middle East appeared on that list, but not the PKK. Members of the PKK were still able to use European capitals as bases, organize anti-Turkish demonstrations on the streets of Europe and make use of those countries’ publishing and broadcasting organizations. The EU may have corrected that “error” following protest from Turkey in April 2002, but the PKK continued to be funded by various bodies in European capitals and continued to be illicitly supported by various means. This double standard is less blatant today, but is still going on. Let us now have a look at what has been happening in Turkey in recent months: Anti-terror operations in the southeast of Turkey began in September 2015. The PKK had been active in various parts of the southeast; yet the dire situation in the region became much clearer once the operations began. It was then realized that the PKK had turned certain districts in the southeast literally its own bases, and the state had literally lost all influence in those regions. Turkish flags had been taken down and the population had been forced into dependence on the PKK. Local people in the region were forced to live in the shadow of the guns, while their homes, mosques and coffee houses were turned into places to store equipment. The PKK had begun to establish blatant sovereignty over parts of Turkish territory. This horrifying picture made wide-ranging joint operations by the Turkish armed forces and security forces essential. The centers of these operations were Cizre, Silopi, Diyarbakir Sur, Dargecit, Nusaybin and Bitlis. Curfews were imposed one after the other. However, these operations were so wide-ranging that local people were evacuated from these areas for their own safety, and accommodation was arranged for them outside the cities. As always, the terror organization had no qualms about inflicting harm on the local population where it was present.
Kurdish families who refused to make their homes available were threatened at gunpoint, and some were killed by the PKK. Some families were made prisoners in their own homes, while other homes were used as storehouses for PKK’s equipment. The organization had no compunctions about bombing primary schools, with students still inside them, or opening fire on ambulances coming to rescue the injured. Let me also remind readers that foreign sharpshooters have also been found to be carrying out attacks alongside the PKK during these operations. The Turkish military and police are continuing to take back the southeast of the country from these Stalinist terrorists. They are also suffering casualties in so doing. However, as a country living with terror it has always been a source of honor to give up martyrs in this cause. “Events have shown how right we were to have initiated an operation against the PKK”. These words were spoken by Prime Minister Davutoglu, who went on to say, “For the first time, the military, the police and intelligence are acting together.” These words mean that there is to be no turning back on these operations for the government. Statements by the prime minister that the region will be rebuilt using a flawless architecture once the operations have come to an end are also to be welcomed.
