12 December 2007 | Ilnur Cevik

Whatever it is called any new legislative measures to encourage youths to abandon the PKK and come down from the mountains should be supplemented by measures that eliminate the reasons why these people sought to join a terrorist group.

It is clear that the government has understood that the PKK issue cannot be solved only through military means. So they have taken the realistic approach of trying to find new ways to end the terrorism problem by encouraging the terrorists to lay down their arms and come down from the mountain hideouts.

Here, the government faces serious problems. First the critics say such legal arrangement like the repentance law that was supposed to encourage the PKK militants to come down from the mountains has not been effective. So there is no guarantee that a new arrangement even if it includes more incentives for the PKK militants to give up their fight may not work.

The second point is that the deaths of Turkish soldiers have created national anger and even hatred not only against the PKK but even those who entertain liberal views on the Kurdish question. In view of this negative environment even a popular government like the Erdogan administration could face tough times if any legal arrangement is made that actually is regarded as an amnesty for the PKK.

So the government is trying to rename its amnesty as an "enhanced repentance law" and an "enhanced back to home law" that it hopes will convince the PKK militants to give up terrorism and rejoin their families.

All this is fine but it hardly solves the problem or addresses the Kurdish issue which is at the core of the current mess.

First we have to determine why these young people have gone up to the mountains to become militants. Why did they join the PKK?

It is true that a respectable mass of people in southeastern Turkey do not feel they treated as first class citizens of the Turkish Republic and have been alienated. Thus some have sent their children into the mountains to struggle to be recognized. Is this the right approach? Of course not. Taking up arms and killing people has never solved anything and on the contrary has even complicated matters.

Young people have seen no future for themselves because of depravity, poverty and discrimination. The PKK has managed to convince them that the reason for all this is because they are Kurds. Thus it managed to recruit them and encouraged them to fight against the state.

Legislating new laws to encourage these young people to come down from the mountains is a positive step but as long as we do not take steps to eliminate the real reasons for these people going up to the mountains we will never be able to wipe away the source of the problem.

Besides all this we have to supplement our social and legislative measures with investments in southeastern Turkey where we create jobs for the impoverished masses.

If we fail to do this eliminating the PKK and bringing down the youths from the mountains will not mean much. Tomorrow new terrorist groups will be created and other youths will go to the mountains.

When we demand rights for our brothers and sisters in Western Thrace in Greece we also have to remember that we have to show the same sensitivity for those living in southeastern Turkey.