JINHA

ISTANBUL - Nimet Tanrıkulu, an activist with Women's Initiative for Peace in Turkey, says that the country is urgently in need of a peace agreement as clashes quickly escalate.

Two days ago, Turkish police began a wave of house raids in which hundreds of Kurdish activists were arrested. The following night, Turkish jets heavily bombed the Kurdish guerrilla-held Medya Defense Zones in Iraq. Nimet Tanrıkulu of Women's Initiative for Peace, noted that the state has repeatedly refused to have a genuine peace process in Turkey.

"One of the things we said was that the state needed to be sincere in the negotiations process," said Nimet. "We made it clear that there needed to be observational groups in the negotiations process with [jailed PKK leader] Mr. Öcalan and that women had to take a seat at the table, and that there was no real peace possible when women were not there."

Now, Nimet said, the government has launched a full-scale attack. She said that their attacks in Kobanê have not been against ISIS, but against the YPG/YPJ.

"They were arm in arm with ISIS at the border. If the state can attack ISIS today, if they know everything, why didn't they attack ISIS before?" asked Nimet. She also remarked on the Turkish state's aggressive proposal of entering Syria and forming a "buffer zone" along the border in areas that would include the Rojava autonomous region.

"There won't be peace with a buffer zone in Kobanê; there will be peace according to the demands of the people of this country," said Nimet. She said the launching of a war resulted from the AKP's defeat in the June 7 election. "The people took their votes away from the AKP precisely because of these war policies. You can't make war like this. When you need to think about why you lost votes, you can't have a state policy of attacking people outside your own borders."

Nimet commented on the recent killing of Günay Özarslan, associated with Turkish left group DHKP-C, during the police raids. Police assassinated Günay in her home, according to witnesses.

"In the operations, a woman was killed not extra-legally, but in fact with clear legal conditions. Whatever the person may be, people have the right to be taken alive," she said. Nimet said the killing recalled the period of coup junta rule and dirty war in Turkey.

Nimet said it was extremely concerning that the state has launched air strikes on Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq.

"That this was done during a time when there was talk of the peace process shows how serious it is," she said. She noted that after two and a half years of the peace process, pushed for by Abdullah Öcalan in spite of the state, attacks have now begun. She called for the peace process to be restarted and the isolation of the jailed PKK leader to end.

"For the socialization of peace, for democracy and freedom, there needs to be a peace agreement immediately," said Nimet. "To say no to the war going on now, we need to be determined and insistent for peace."

(dk/dc/cm)