Kurdish–Turkish conflict

Amnesty International has accused Turkish security forces of using excessive force to police major street protests which erupted in Turkey?s southeast last year. A 22-page report released by Amnesty in Istanbul on July 7 was also critical of what it termed ?a lack of effective investigations into deaths and injuries that occurred.?

Violence that erupted in Turkey?s southeast before and after the recent election has raised fears of a return to widespread clashes between affiliates of the Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK) and Hizbullah, an outlawed Kurdish Islamist militant group. 

Developments in Tal Abyad, a strategic border town in Syria just south of the Turkish town of Akçakale, are proving again that developments in Syria are not determined by Ankara?s desires and needs. What we have today is more than just a victory against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

?Understanding Turkey?s Kurdish Question? edited by Fevzi Bilgin and Ali Sar?han (Lexington Books, 266 pages, $40)

As the dynamics of the new government are still in flux, the future of Turkey?s Kurdish issue is also unclear. With the lands across Turkey's southern borders engulfed by turmoil, the question appears to be entering a new, uncertain phase.

The night of June 7 was pleasantly surprising for many Turks that I know - and myself. The results of the general election showed that the 13-year-long reign of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which was quite clean and liberating in its initial phase but later turned increasingly corrupt and authoritarian, finally faced a setback.

Social media is wonderful. I have two quotes from social media for this week?s column. One is from Facebook; the other is from Ek?i ?özlük (Sour Dictionary), the most popular website in Turkey. It is also on social media that Turkish people are these days complaining that they cannot wide the smile from their faces. Indeed it?s true, we cannot stop smiling. 

Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK), is the appropriate person to call on militants of his organization to lay down arms, Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirta? has said, urging for the resumption of talks in the stalled peace process. 

Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has said it was open to all options for a coalition government other than with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and that President Tayyip Erdo?an should remain within his constitutional limits.

Filiz Kerestecio?lu was one of Kurdish issue-focused Peoples? Democratic Party?s (HDP) feminist candidates. Now, she is a new member of parliament. One of her quotes was unforgettable: ?I can sometimes be a woman subject to violence, sometimes a Kurd, sometimes a tree, and sometimes a mule.?

A suspect who was detained on allegations of perpetrating a twin bomb attack on June 5 at a Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) rally in the southeastern province of Diyarbak?r was arrested on June 10.