Turkey and the Terrorism Crisis

Political and social security, which is essential for economic development, seems to have become a foreign concept in the Middle East, threatening countries in the region day by day and creating an increasingly turbulent and unsafe environment that shakes the pillars of development and progress for countries that have managed to pave the way for development in past decades. One of these countries is the Republic of Turkey, where insecurity can significantly affect the fate of neighboring countries. For about a year, terror and fear have engulfed Turkey, and recent suicide attacks and terrorist operations in Istanbul and Midyat have seriously negatively impacted the country's security. In this context, the Time newspaper wrote on June 9 that 'the internal battle returns to Turkey!' This publication evaluated the explosion in the 'Vezneciler' area of Istanbul and explained the outcomes of the past year: 'The recent explosion shows which direction Turkey is heading. Since January 2016, this is the fourth major explosion in Istanbul that has terrified the 14 million inhabitants of the city. At the same time, it is also the second massive explosion in the country.' In any case, one must ask what is truly happening in Turkey? Why is it facing security problems day by day? What hands and factors are involved in creating this turbulent atmosphere in the country? Now that we are in the month of Khordad, looking back over the past year, we see Turkey has been afflicted by insecurity from last Khordad to this Khordad. During this period, according to statistics provided by the Turkish government, more than 300 people have been killed and over a thousand injured. Of course, these statistics only pertain to bomb explosions in cities. If we add the casualties of security and military forces, the numbers exceed what we can imagine. From the bomb explosion in Diyarbakir last Khordad, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries, to today, various bombing incidents, including the Suruç explosion, explosions in Doğubayazıt, Ankara, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Bursa, Mardin, etc., have caused pain to the soul of the Turkish nation. However, on one hand, the Turkish government has become aware of the existing security vacuum, and on the other hand, it has been compelled to show serious will in combating terrorism. Alongside these, over the past year, both Istanbul and Ankara have been attacked by terrorists three times. Many analysts believe that the current situation in the country is due to the Turkish president's approach to using parliament instrumentally to achieve a presidential system instead of a parliamentary one, and the president's handling of elections and disrupting the peace negotiations with the Kurds has led to insecurity in Turkey. For instance, on Wednesday, the Cumhuriyet newspaper reported that Erdoğan, in a speech in Gaziantep, stated, 'Give me 400 members of parliament so that the country can be more peaceful and secure.' Following this, Selahattin Demirtaş, the leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party, said ten days later, 'We will not allow you to reach a presidential system.' However, what cannot be overlooked is that the emergence of an unsafe and turbulent atmosphere began precisely when the peace negotiations between the Turkish government and the Kurds were stalled, and the parliamentary election discussions with the ruling Justice and Development Party's approach to changing the parliamentary system to a presidential one intensified. June 7, 2015, had two significant outcomes for Turkey. First, a party called the Peoples' Democratic Party gained strength, and Kurds and their supporters entered the Turkish parliament under this party's banner. This could have placed Turkey on a very progressive path. Second, the Justice and Development Party, for the first time in a decade, despite having all the advertising and power resources, was forced to form a coalition government and realized the decline in votes in its base. If we pay attention to the nature of these two changes, certainly the Justice and Development Party and its president could not tolerate the results achieved. For this reason, the coalition government was not formed, and ultimately the elections in December took place, and to this day, the government resulting from these elections continues its political life with a change in the prime ministership. Therefore, it seems that the current situation in Turkey is the result of the following parameters: • Turkey has become turbulent due to the rejection of political change conditions resulting from the June 7 elections. • The deadlock in negotiations between the Kurds and the government has once again awakened the monster of PKK terrorism. • The insistence on changing the parliamentary system to a presidential one and the severe political-party disagreements among Turkish parties regarding this have created a perceptual and analytical vacuum among the people, which crisis-inducing factors have exploited. • Domestic affiliated factors and covert foreign interventions aimed at undermining the governmental structure and weakening it to achieve their goals, especially after the Turkey-Russia dispute, have become active. • Turkey is in a situation where both the government and its opponents are trying to redesign Turkish society through their social and political engineering. In this design, national and ideological components are under attack. • Most importantly, Turkey's role in regional security stability has been overlooked, and by weakening this country, the path to the disintegration of countries begins. The current events are not merely simple incidents and tensions between groups and the government. Beyond these events, other countries in the region may also be affected.