It is unclear how far this escalation of attacks and ambushes can go, and how many more lives it can claim. It has to stop. The PKK must silence its guns immediately. If it does so, an atmosphere suitable to talks may be revived. It may be possible to return to the negotiation table.
Having supported and cleared the way for the PKK at Kobane, the West is now playing it as a “terror card” against Turkey. Kobane appears to have served as a laboratory for adapting the PKK to this objective.
It has fallen to Mayor Leyla İmret to explain the aims and objectives of the armed militants that established themselves in Cizre: “We are waging a civil war in Cizre against Turkey.” In her statement to the British media, she defines Cizre as “the focal point of the civil war [they] have launched against Turkey.”
The hurt of losing these martyrs and the identity of the killers were suddenly relegated to the background. Even opposition leader Kılıçdaroğlu cited not the PKK but Erdoğan by name while condemning the attack.