First of all let me explain why I mention the names of  Lice, Paris and Reyhanlı together: these three places witnessed massacres in the last day of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. We need to remember and make something out these massacres once again now, given the fact that they should be seen as attempts aimed to sabotage the process of democratic solution for the Kurdish question initiated by Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan.

We know that Öcalan proposed a solution to last year's hunger strikes which could have led to deaths and a great chaos. Authorities of the Turkish state had started talks with Öcalan in Imralı prison as of the autumn of 2012. The news of talks taking place was not shared with the public opinion but various circles inside the state already knew about it. Despite this process, the Turkish army launched an operation against Kurdish guerrillas who were inactive at that time. One of the areas targeted in this operation was the region of Lice where -let's remember- HPG (People's Defense Forces) Amed Regional Command Numan Amed and his nine comrades were killed as a result of an attack targeting a group of guerrillas deploying for the winter.

This massacre lead to great anger on the side of the people of Kurdistan, in Amed in particular. An interesting development took place on 3 January 2013 when DTK (Democratic Society Congress) co-chair Ahmet Türk and BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) Batman deputy Ayla Akat Ata visited Öcalan in İmralı. The publication of news of the meeting in the press didn't interrupt the process.

The second BDP delegation was being expected to pay another visit to İmralı when we heard a terrifying news coming from Paris on 9 January 2013: Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), Fidan Doğan, KNK (Kurdistan National Congress) Paris representative, and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement had been killed. It was a very critical phase. Öcalan commented these killings as another Dersim massacre targeting himself. Tension was high.

The anger of Kurds multiplied. The veil of mystery behind the massacre yet remains unlifted with Paris and Ankara still standing before us as the two main suspects. These killings however didn't stop the İmralı process, but on the contrary gave new impulse to the process. Delegations held meetings in İmralı, Kandil, Ankara and Europe. The historic Newroz was followed by the PKK truce on 23 March and the withdrawal of guerrillas as of 8 May.

Then we heard about the massacre in Reyhanlı right when progresses were registered in the first phase of a process for the achievement of a democratic solution to the Kurdish question. Two blasts in the district left more than 50 people dead and over a hundred injured on 11 May 2013.

The attack in Reyhanlı was analysed from two different points of view: with a look at the AKP government's Syrian policy on one side, and pointing out a flaw in intelligence within MİT's (National Intelligence Service) and the consequent failure to prevent the attacks. Supporters of the latter vision deserve more attention, because Hakan Fidan [MIT head] was targeted at the time of the so-called Oslo talks [between PKK officials and MIT] and now appears to be targeted once again. In a report published by Bugün daily, close to the government and grounding its news on police intelligence, on 15 May 2013 it's written that Minister of Justice, Sadullah Ergin, was supposed to be in Reyhanlı on 11 May, and that he had survived the attack by rescheduling his meeting with the AKP in Hatay for the day before the blast.
It has to be said that the news has not been confirmed by at the same time it should be worth it to research into it. The target of the attacks, according to the news, seems to be the so called İmralı process.

The connection between these three incidents is not very visible but it needs to be researched. Comments and developments we have witnessed after these massacres show who did what and who intended to do what. We are supposed to see the fact that the powers wanting to sabotage the process from “inside” are now planning to put this in pratice through regional provocations, opening themselves more and more to “outside” every day. What this means is, those intending to sabotage this process have plans A,B,C,D,E and the addresses are very much in the open, aren't they?

* Source: Özgur Politika