Ertugrul Ozkok: Where does that road go?

I wasn't able to write about the sad anger I felt that day. I am sure that all the sons and daughters of this country felt the same thing when they saw the empty streets. I am sure that others writers felt the same way, but weren't able to write about it. I am sure that everyone did much like I did: tuck away those feelings on the inside. Most people probably put it aside, thinking it could be dealt with later, but that that moment was not the appropriate time to bring it up.***I was not able to forget the empty streets that faced Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on his visit to Diyarbakir. I don't think I'll ever forget. What's more, I'm sure that a majority of the citizens in the Turkish Republic will never forget. I am waiting for an explanation. But how will Diyarbakir explain empty streets facing a prime minister who has come to visit it?  ***There are sparks of hostility going off in every corner of the country these days. But every sensible and effective person in Turkey has called on citizens to engage in a calm and quiet peace. From leftists to nationalists, from religious people to atheists, a venture into brotherhood and sisterhood has been started. Bingol MPs state that they will come to the Sogut region to help celebrate its founding. But I see the regional mayors, and can't help noting that no one of them has made even the slightest call for calm.  Instead, they say "Let the PM keep his word." That's as far as they'll go.  The fuedal culture of the Middle East has been passed down from generation to generation, and nothing has changed in that culture of southeastern Turkey. Land lords have left, and in their place, PKK lords have come. What a futureless, fortuneless region this turned out to be. What unending trouble.  Incredible.... *** Yes, for days I have been waiting to hear just one sentence from the regional mayors inviting people of the southeast to be calm, inviting them to enjoy brotherhood and the benefits of living together in peace. While I wait, a cold, dark, frightening buzz comes from that direction. Which is why I now say, their intentions are different from ours.  For years, key phrases like "cultural rights, mother tongue rights" have numbed us. And it turns out that in the past 20 years, all they have done is move their center from Syria's Damascus to the island of Imrali. They do not want peace. In their dictionaries, there is no entry after the word "brotherhood."  ***Here is what I want to say to the soul-less political architects who are planning to build a road from the rocks thrown by people at one another:  If those bring you anywhere, it will be to your own hell.  You can be sure of this... The history books are wide open in front of you.  Look it up on Google if you have to.  The encyclopedias are on the shelf.  This geography's hell lies on the edge of these stones, these cliffs, these guns.  On the other side, we have our Turkey, with its 700 year togetherness, its brotherhood, its peace, and its civilization.  Let people choose which side they want, and keep it pure.  Knowning of course that there will be a price to pay. Â