PM Davutoğlu calls on political leaders to unite to ensure public order

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mustafa Kirazlı)

August 09, 2015, Sunday/ 13:50:36/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ISTANBUL

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has called on the leaders of all political parties to unite to ensure the public order, protect democracy and make a cease-fire possible, while pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has called for steps to restore peace.

Posting successive tweets on Sunday, Davutoğlu said the state has the power to defy all kinds of threats and terrorism acts that target it.

Two police officers died on Saturday in two separate terrorist attacks carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the southeastern provinces of Şırnak and Mardin.

A police officer died on Saturday, a day after his unit was attacked by a group of militants linked to the PKK in the town of Silopi.

Officer Muhammet Onur Demir was martyred in clashes between the militants and law enforcement. At least two police officers, one soldier and three PKK militants were killed in the clashes.

On Friday, security forces went to the Başak and Barbaros neighborhoods of Silopi to fill in trenches that the PKK's youth wing dug as part of their "resistance." As security forces arrived in the area, the incident escalated into an armed confrontation. Police Officers Hamdi Ulaş, Kamuran Bilin and Hıdır Tamboğa were killed while seven others were injured, including two police officers, in the clashes.

Demir was taken to Diyarbakır Dicle University Hospital, but died in hospital the following day. His body was sent to his hometown of Sivas after a military funeral ceremony at Diyarbakır's 8th Air Base.

Also, gendarmerie noncommissioned officer Muhammet Oruç, who was martryed in a PKK terrorist attack on Friday, was buried in his hometown of Adana on Saturday. Oruç's mother embraced her son's coffin at the funeral.

In the other incident, a police officer was killed and another wounded in a Saturday attack by PKK terrorists in the southern province of Mardin.

PKK militants reportedly attacked police officers with automatic rifles in Midyat's Cumhuriyet Square on Saturday night. Two police officers were seriously injured in the attack.

One of the police officers was taken to Midyat State Hospital, but later died. The other police officer was taken to Mardin State Hospital. Security services have launched a large-scale operation to find the perpetrators.

Demirtaş visits family of slain soldier, calls for peace

HDP Co-chair Demirtaş called for steps to restore peace on Saturday as he visited the family of a soldier killed in a PKK attack.

“We do not separate the deceased into Turks and Kurds,” Demirtaş said during his visit to the family of Abdulhalik Araz, who was killed in a PKK attack in Silopi on Friday, in the eastern province of Van. “The soldier who became a martyr is our brother, just like all the other young people we buried in this land. Insisting on peace is the only way to end this pain.”

The slain soldier's father, Saim Araz, also called for peace. “We got hurt. We don't want anyone else to get hurt,” he said. “We want peace.”

Twenty-two-year-old Salih Hüseyin Parça, who started to serve as a police officer less than a month ago, was killed on Friday when his armored vehicle was attacked by a rocket launched by PKK members in the southeastern district of Cizre, in Şırnak province, bringing the number of members of the security forces who were killed in PKK attacks since July 20 to 21.

Earlier on Friday, three people were killed and seven others injured during clashes between the PKK and the police in Silopi.

The PKK announced that it was stepping up attacks in mid-July over what it said were violations by the security forces of a 2013 cease-fire. The violence worsened when Turkey began an air campaign against PKK camps in northern Iraq on July 24.

The renewed violence has effectively shelved a settlement process launched in 2012 to resolve the Kurdish issue via talks.

Demirtaş vowed to work for the restoration of peace, saying the grieving father's call is an “order for us.”

“Those who lose their sons speak of peace and this is what counts for us. And we, God willing, will join hands and achieve this,” Demirtaş said.

Speaking to reporters in Van earlier, Demirtaş called on the PKK to "remove its finger from the trigger" and for the government to halt a surge in violence by launching talks.

"Today we call on both sides: The PKK must immediately remove its finger from the trigger and state that it will observe the cease-fire," Demirtaş said, adding that the government must halt security operations and declare itself ready for dialogue.

Demirtaş's HDP won 13 percent of the vote in a June 7 parliamentary election. He has considerable influence among the party's grassroots Kurdish supporters, most of whom are sympathetic to the PKK.

Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan said the state was continuing talks with Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the PKK, but the HDP could no longer visit him because it had "betrayed" the process.

In comments to the Milliyet newspaper published on Saturday, he said tactical PKK declarations on halting violence were unacceptable.

"Their withdrawal from Turkey and a complete halt to activities is now a prerequisite," he said.

The flare-up in violence comes at a time of political uncertainty in Turkey. A coalition has yet to be established, raising the possibility of a snap election.

"A coalition may or may not be formed, but peace is urgent. Mr. Davutoğlu, we are not requesting this from you. You are obliged to do it," Demirtaş said in comments addressed to Prime Minister Davutoğlu.

Commenting on Demirtaş's call for peace following a meeting he held with various civil society organizations in Şanlıurfa on Saturday evening, Davutoğlu said the call is late, but it is a very appropriate one.

Pointing to last year's Kobani protests, in which more than 40 people were killed in October 2014, Davutoğlu asked Demirtaş why he also did not call for peace and call on the PKK to stop violence during that period.

In a related development, the court has decided to arrest five of the 13 suspected members of the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H), an affiliate of the PKK, detained insiverek, a district of Şanlıurfa province, on Wednesday.

The police detained 13 suspected members of the YDG-H in Siverek in an operation conducted on Wednesday. In simultaneous raids, the police found unregistered guns, fireworks and organizational documents. The detainees were brought to the Counterterrorism Unit of the Şanlıurfa Police Department for questioning.

The court arrested five of those detainees on Saturday.

Keywords: HDP , Selahattin Demirtaş , PKK , Silopi , Kobani , YDG-H , Şanlıurfa , siverek , Ahmet Davutoğlu