Turkish papers warning over IS, PKK strikes, early poll

Some papers, like Haber Turk, warn strikes will end peace talks with PKK

Turkish military strikes against the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria and Kurdish separatist PKK forces in northern Iraq have split the country's newspapers right down the middle.

While pro-government papers support the operation, secular and leftist dailies voice fears that the move will now spell an end to the already protracted peace talks with the PKK.

'Terror triangle' being dismantled

"Double blow on terror," reads a headline in pro-government Ortadogu daily.

"The Bermuda terror triangle" is being demolished, says conservative Milat, in a reference to IS, PKK and the extreme left-wing group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front or DHKP-C.

The government is not abandoning the peace talks with the PKK, argues Orhan Miroglu in centre-right Star, adding that the AKP party had no alternative but to strike after years of "sincere" efforts failed to elicit any response from the PKK leadership in Quandil.

By reaching a deal with the US, Turkey has finally "responded to the 'proxy wars' being waged through groups operating both outside the country, says Mahmut Ovur in Sabah.

"Turkey has both confronted those trying to import terror and shown that new alliances can be formed. And this too is a sign of a new era," he says.

And the operation has full support of Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani and even the UK prime minister, David Cameron, claims a headline in centre-right Haber Turk.

'Wrong' foreign policies

But many secular and leftist dailies are critical of the strikes.

The government in Ankara now has the support of the US in fighting both IS and the PKK, writes Yalcin Dogan in Hurriyet. But it should have never allowed the fighting to get so close to its southern border, which has now "all but disappeared", he argues.

The current situation is the result of the "wrong" foreign policies pursued by the government pursued over the past decade.

Hurriyet blames the government for not acting sooner against the IS group

Warning over early poll

Other commentators suspect President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might be trying to use the crisis as a pretext to call an early poll in order to shore up AKP majority in parliament.

"Turkey is being dragged into a historic adventure by those whose authority was limited … as revenge in 7 June general elections, says Cengiz Candar in Radikal.

The paper urges the CHP - the Republican People's Party, now the second biggest party in parliament - to put pressure on Mr Erdogan to reverse his "dangerous" decision.

Writing in Zaman, Mumtazer Turkone warns that "the skies will tumble on those making election calculations with bombs, adding that "the nation would defeat such plans at the ballot box."

Similar warnings are echoed in Cumhuriyet.

"The oppressive regimes are fed by the chaos and the worry it creates among the people," Can Dundar writes in the daily. "Erdogan knows that both a broad coalition and a new ballot box will limit his own hegemony … That is why he is looking for another way out."

And Mehmet Tezkan in Milliyet says now that "the IS monster has become our terror group" a logical step would be to speed up coalition talks and form a strong government but "with every single day, we are a step closer to a new election."

"After four years of peace, we will now go back to thirty years of bloodshed for the sake of [the president's] ambitions," he says.

Finally, Nazli Ilicak says bluntly in Bugun that Mr Erdogan is acting against IS only after the Kurdish party - HDP - got into parliament as he realises that he needs to woo back nationalist votes so that "the AK Party can return to govern alone once again."

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