Turkey is fast becoming a witch\u2019s brew of hate and fear. Instead of calming down growing anger and suspicion; the Erdogan-Davutoglu government seems to be adding to the odious concoction.<\/p>\n
Its authority severely damaged on the international stage and several towns and villages shaken with the worst street violence in recent decades, the Davutoglu government is still intent on playing the blame game.<\/p>\n
With at least 31 people killed, hundreds injured and more than 1,000 people arrested, Turkey once again resembles the dark days of the 1990\u2019s Kurdish insurgency. \u00a0For the first time in decades, the army was deployed on the streets, curfews were introduced. \u00a0One of the most worrying aspects of the clashes is the inter-communal and religious element of it. \u00a0In the south-east of the country, they were mostly happening between militant secular PKK supporters and the Sunni Islamist Kurdish groups. \u00a0\u00a0Add to these mixture nationalist attacks on Kurds in big cities as well as increasingly racist\u2019s anti-Kurdish, anti-Syrian rhetoric in the conventional and social media, it is not difficult to see how explosive the situation is.<\/p>\n
Yet, every time the country\u2019s leaders open their mouths, they seem to throw more fuel on the fire. As well as paranoia, there is a surprising amount of arrogance at a time when Turkey is becoming more and more isolated.<\/p>\n
President Erdogan\u2019s earlier comment that he saw no difference between Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIS) \u00a0and the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, has angered Turkey\u2019s Kurds, already unhappy about Turkey\u2019s inaction during the siege of Kobane, a stone throw from Turkey\u2019s border.<\/p>\n
Now, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu makes \u00a0it crystal clear that he is not prepared to hear any criticism of his policies.\u00a0 On Friday, he told the leader of the main opposition Kemal Kilicdaroglu to shut up, accusing him of \u201ctreason\u201d over his statements on the latest situation.<\/p>\n
President Erdogan went a step further, accusing both the mainly Kurdish Peoples\u2019 Democratic Party (HDP) and the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) of instigating the unrest.<\/p>\n
Refusing to acknowledge grievances, Mr Erdogan called the protests a game that is aimed at sabotaging the peaceful environment in the east and southeast as well as the peace process and Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood.<\/p>\n
He claimed that Turkey\u2019s principled stand on regional issues has troubled certain quarters both inside and outside the country. \u201cFirst, they tried to create the impression that Turkey was assisting terrorists. Next, they targeted Turkey\u2019s economy. They were not successful. Then, they used their credit rating agencies. But they will not succeed\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In its diplomatic brinkmanship with the ant-ISIS coalition over what should be done in Syria, Turkey is sticking to its guns. Both the Prime Minister Davutoglu and the foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu clearly stated that Turkey has no intention to send troops to Syria.<\/p>\n