, said on Tuesday that Israel could try to derail Turkey’s peace initiative with the Kurds by provoking violence in Turkey as fighting spreads across the region.){kind=link}
Ahmet Davutoğlu, a former Turkish prime minister and chairman of the opposition Future Party (GP), said on Tuesday that Israel could try to derail Turkey’s peace initiative with the Kurds by provoking violence in Turkey as fighting spreads across the region.
Speaking to Şirin Payzın of the T24 news website, Davutoğlu said Israel’s “most usable card” in the region is the Kurdish struggle for recognition and claimed an attack could be staged to end the peace efforts.
“A terrorist incident ends this process. Mossad [might] carry out a terrorist attack,” he said.
He urged the government to move faster on legal steps tied to the initiative, warning that delays allow the agenda to shift and leave the process exposed to disruption.
Turkey’s current initiative aims to end decades of conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. A Turkish parliamentary commission recently approved a roadmap tied to legal reforms and the PKK’s disbandment.
Davutoğlu linked his warning to the regional escalation that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran and has since expanded, saying turmoil in Syria and the broader conflict environment could also affect Turkey’s internal process.
Calls for unity at home, cites post-2016 purge victims
Davutoğlu also argued Turkey should build “unity at home” against spillover risks from the regional fighting by easing internal divisions and restoring rights for people affected by the purge that came after a coup attempt in 2016 and was carried out through emergency decrees. He said Turkey should be “fortified” internally by following the European Court of Human Rights’ rulings and by taking steps for purge victims, while avoiding polarization.
He added that domestic cohesion is tied to resilience in a crisis, warning that public hardship weakens any call for national mobilization. He said Turkey also needs stronger economic and military preparedness as the regional conflict grows.
The February 28 US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered Iranian retaliation and have since grown into a regional conflict, with Iran firing missiles and drones at Israel and at US-linked targets in the Gulf and Israel also striking Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iranian state media reported Wednesday that at least 1,045 people have been killed in Iran since the strikes began.