24 Casualties

In the month of October 2011, 24 people died in the East of Turkey. They died by PKK
attacks. It is said that at least 150 people has died from June to
October 2011.

Days after this subject, the fear, anger, worry and more importantly the strive for

peace, be it for us or for another, no difference, aspired just the
same, is forgotten. Until the next attack. How fast we forget ! We
all know deep inside that we have to find new ways to end this
chronic conflict.

There are many views such as: ‘’BDP deputies have boycotted parliamentary
sessions because they have been stripped
of their seats with catch-all antiterror laws ‘’, “Less
visibly, the secretive peace negotiations between the Turkish
authorities and the PKK have broken down.” ‘’Some views have
been distorted by nearly a century long of nationalist education and
anti- Kurdish propaganda’’.

It goes without saying it depends who one talks to; but the fact is the dead are
dead; and many people around the dead hurt.

Hugh Pope from WSJ says ‘’The Turkish authorities must not fall into the PKK’s trap and let the

ongoing fighting distract them from pursuing a new constitution,
legal system and education curriculum cleansed of ethnic
discrimination. They should also change laws that have detained
thousands of Turkish Kurds for what they think and not what they do,
and engage the BDP far more.

I wish I could read more hopeful people like that in the Turkish media. Why

is it that we do not think and work towards a sustainable peace in
our own region, when we are trying for the same in the wider region?
Is it easier to deal with outside problems than inside?