Turkish leaders call for calm as public fury grows over PKK attacks

The leaders of Turkey's ruling and opposition parties called for calm as the public anger grew over the renewed conflicts between government forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.

"I invite all my citizens to calm, embrace one another, and to have confidence in the state," the interim Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said recently.

He also criticized nationalist attacks by angry protestors against buildings and facilities of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), seen as closely affiliated with the PKK, over this week in major Turkish cities.

"The punishment for the terrorism will be given by our security forces and the judiciary within the rule of law," he added.

A similar call was also made by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.

Tensions have soared in Turkey in the past few days, as the government launched a major military operation against PKK militants, and the rebels hit back against the security forces.

On Tuesday night, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Ankara and other cities against PKK attacks in the east, where two attacks killed more than 30 soldiers and police between Sunday and Tuesday.

The public fury was turned against the pro-Kurdish HDP, seen as closely affiliated with the PKK.

The HDP said 128 properties belonging to the HDP across the country faced some kind of attacks including arson attack on the party's headquarters in capital Ankara.

Angry crowds blocked roads, raided media buildings, pelted stones at buses traveling to Kurdish regions with stones, and set on fire properties belonging to Kurdish workers.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), called on people Wednesday to steer clear of carrying out acts of vandalism against Kurds and the HDP.

"That's what the PKK is after," he said, warning that the PKK is trying to provoke Kurds and Turks against each other.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chairman Devlet Bahceli also urged the party's supporters to remain calm, avoid from violence and be vigilant against provocations.

Turkish analysts fear that rising tension in the society may be a harbinger of something worse.

"What we have been fearing for some time has finally happened," Turkish expert Suat Kiniklioglu said.

"The boiling tension in Turkish society has reached a threshold where hundreds of thousands of citizens started to attack the houses and businesses of Kurdish citizens," he noted.

Meanwhile, another Turkish analyst Murat Yetkin also believes that the current polarization may turn ordinary Turks and Kurds against each other, something the PKK has failed to achieve in its 30 years of conflict with the Turkish government.

"The recent rise in attacks, after a hopeful three-year pause, especially as Turkey heads for a tense re-election, has the potential to trigger such a dangerous development," he warned.

After failure in the formation of a coalition government following the inconclusive June 7 elections, Turkey will hold a snap election on Nov. 1 in order to determine the next government.

The Turkish government had been pursuing settlement talks with the PKK since 2012, but the process was suspended in July when the PKK resumed its attacks in response to what it claimed to be unfulfilled demands from the government.

On its defense, the government said the PKK did not lay down arms and withdraw from Turkish soil as promised during the settlement talks.

The PKK, listed as terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, started armed campaign in 1984 that claimed lives of more than 40,000 people.

"At the end of the day, the settlement process, which was the most promising initiative ever launched in Turkey, will fall victim to electioneering concerns," Yasar Yakis, former foreign minister and now a columnist at a Turkish daily, said.

"It may not be easy to revive the process after the election because there will be an added disadvantage of the loss of mutual confidence," he lamented.

The escalation of violence triggered a fresh debate in Turkey about possible postponement of elections on Nov. 1 over security concerns especially in predominantly Kurdish areas in the southeastern Turkey.

Both president and prime minister have publicly denounced such plans by the government.

Omer Taspinar, Turkey expert at Washington-based Brookings Institution, said the president could very well try to do so on the grounds that the country is at war. Enditem