The death of 12 soldiers in the recent clashes in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, according to official statements, has once again reminded the reality of what kind of problem Turkey is facing, despite the propaganda of the Erdoğan government that "we have finished" and "we have solved".

However, the first thing that the ruling party and its partner MHP, who are politically responsible for the deaths of the soldiers, did was to prepare a "joint declaration against terrorism" in the parliament in order to cover up their own responsibility. Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç's accusation of "encouraging terrorism" against the CHP and the DEM, which did not sign this declaration, shows that the government is trying to use nationalist-chauvinist sensitivities to support the opposition and put pressure on those who do not.

In his statement, President Erdoğan said: "We will never retreat from our fight against the hired killers who act as subcontractors for the imperialists. Both the murderers with blood on their hands and those who support the separatist organisation will sooner or later realise that there is no place for terrorism in the future of our region.

There is no doubt that Erdoğan was referring to the US when he said "imperialists". While opposing Israel's operations against Gaza, he had brought up the fact that the USA, which has tens of military bases in Turkey and many other countries in the region, only cooperates with the Kurds in Syria and asked "What are the US bases doing in Syria?

Erdoğan talks about being a subcontractor of the imperialists, but on the day of the soldiers' death (21 December), the representatives of his own government held a "high-level defence group meeting" with the USA in Washington. Moreover, is it not Erdoğan who, at the request of US President Biden, prepared and submitted to the Parliament the bill on the approval of Sweden's NATO membership that is expected to be discussed in the Parliament this week?

Therefore, the anti-imperialist rhetoric of Erdoğan, who spoke about "opening a new page with the USA" at the NATO summit a few months ago, is just a discourse aimed at deceiving the domestic public opinion. More importantly, this discourse aims to create legitimacy for the government's interventionist war policy, which does nothing but spread and deepen the Kurdish problem by presenting it as a "terrorist problem used by the imperialists".

More than ten years ago, the then Chief of General Staff Başbuğ said, "Without new recruits, the TSK would have finished the PKK five times in 26 years". The then Interior Minister Soylu said: "We know them down to the number of their shoes. According to official figures, Turkey has 38 military bases, large and small, in the Kurdish region of Iraq (the Claw-Kilit operational zone), where the recent deaths of soldiers took place. In Syria, many settlements are occupied by jihadist groups.

From this point of view alone, it is enough to see that treating the Kurdish problem as a "terrorist problem" has not served to solve the problem in the past 40 years and will not solve the problem even if another 40 years pass.

Secondly, the bases established across the borders and the occupied territories do not change the fact that the problem and its solution are inside, not outside.

If we do not want to bury our heads in the sand and close our eyes to the facts as the government wants, it is necessary to use these recent deaths as a means to question the government's policies and to prevent new deaths.

It is necessary to ask; why does Erdoğan, who only 7-8 years ago talked about the massacres committed against the Kurds during the Republican period and that the Kurdish problem cannot be solved with violence, today declare those who talk about a peaceful solution as "supporters of terrorism"?

Does the policy that Erdoğan defends today defend the interests of the Turkish people or the interests of his own power and the monopolies with which he is in a fateful alliance?

The Ministry of Defence has announced the number of soldiers who have lost their lives so far in the Claw-Kilit operation zone as 113.

For what interests did these soldiers die?

Why does the government insist on this operation when it knows that it will not solve the Kurdish problem?

In order to answer these questions, let us take a closer look at the developments.

One of the main aims of this operation, which is supported by the Barzani administration in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, with which the Erdoğan government has close political and economic cooperation, is to develop energy cooperation and to remove the PKK as an obstacle to this cooperation. This is one of the main reasons for the establishment of 38 military bases in this region.

After the war in Ukraine, the energy resources of the Middle East have become more important. Erdoğan's close friend Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, said last year that they would soon start exporting natural gas to Turkey and Europe. Moreover, contrary to Erdogan's claims, this policy is supported by the US and the EU, which have embargoed Russian gas and oil in particular.

The USA, which cooperates with the Kurds in Syria for its own interests, supports Turkey's operations in Iraq, which go as far as Sinjar. Behind this support is the fact that the US, since the Baker-Hamilton report on Iraq in 2006, has been advocating the military elimination of the PKK in order to eliminate it as a threat to energy resources and transit routes in the region, and that it sees Turkey's intervention as useful in limiting Iran and the influence of the Hashd al-Shaabi, which it supports.

Didn't İlnur Çevik, one of the president's chief advisers, say about the Afrin operation, "We had about fifty martyrs in Afrin, but Turkish contractors will get the biggest cake"?

Now, Justice Minister Tunç, who accused the CHP and the DEM party, which did not sign the declaration prepared by them, of "supporting terrorism", can also say: "We lost 113 martyrs in the area of the Claw-Kilit operation, but we will get the biggest cake from the oil and natural gas of Kurdistan"!

As we can see, behind the operations and deaths in Syria and Iraq under the pretext of "national interests" and "survival", the interests of the government and a handful of bourgeois minorities with whom it is in a fateful alliance are in reality.

Selahattin Demirtaş once asked: "Have you ever seen a mansion, a villa or a rich house where a soldier's funeral was held and a flag was raised for it? Why are soldiers' funerals always held in poor houses, like the recent funeral of Yasin Karaca from Almus, Tokat?

Forbes magazine's list of dollar billionaires for 2023 includes 26 Turkish dollar billionaires. Poor children are sent to their deaths under the pretext of 'national interest' and 'survival', while the real owners of the country enrich themselves.

When the brother of Lieutenant-Colonel Mehmet Alkan, Captain Ali Alkan, was killed in a clash in 2015, he rightly asked "What happened to those who called for a solution until yesterday, now they are calling for war until the end?" and was dismissed from the army for this question.

The death of 12 soldiers in two days showed once again that the Kurdish question cannot be solved with the politics of oppression, violence and war. The government and the monopolies, with whom it is in a fateful alliance, may need this war policy to support their own policy through the nationalism of the working people, whom they condemn to hunger and poverty with their expansionist ambitions. But this policy is neither in the need nor in the interest of the working people of Turkey.

It should also be noted that it is positive that the main opposition party CHP did not sign the government's declaration, but this positivity should lead to questioning the government's policy on the deaths. Otherwise, this step will not be very meaningful and will not help to stop the deaths and to find a democratic and peaceful solution.

We have no other way but to unite as Turkish and Kurdish people, as workers and labourers of all nationalities against those who want to maintain their power with the blood of the poor and turn this country into a homeland only for a handful of rich people with whom they share a common destiny; to fight together for a democratic-peaceful solution and a future in which we can live in dignity.