The friends of Kurds should be critical

Within the span of just a week, two terror attacks have killed dozens of police, soldiers and civilians, first in central Istanbul and then in Kayseri. The blast in Istanbul felt like an earthquake in my flat, which is located just a 10-minute walk from the site of the explosions. No, the worst is not the safety concerns or the shock at the events but the feelings of hopelessness, uncertainty and gloom. 

It is certain that the politics of the "war on terrorism" is no remedy for the Kurdish problem, since the Kurdish issue is not a matter of security but a political one. Unfortunately, the governing party insists on denying this fact and is following the steps of the previous ones, so much so that the circumstances are turning out to be worse than before in many respects, as many Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) politicians are currently under arrest, with government politicians promising that "the process will continue."
  
Nevertheless, it is also the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) strategy of terror and violence which legitimizes and justifies the politics of security and therefore undermines democratic politics. We have to admit that there is no space left for democratic politics in Turkey not only because of authoritarian state/government politics but also because of the Kurdish politics of violence. 

Leaving aside democratic politics, terror attacks, or "armed struggle" as they call it, endangers social peace and paves the way for a nationalist backlash and possible civil war. As Kurdish aggression ruins the credibility of democratic politicians and democrats, the reluctance of democrats who support Kurdish rights and freedoms to denounce the violent ways of Kurdish politics further tarnishes the image of democrats and weakens their...