According to a credible analysis from Vijay Prashad for The Hindu, which concurs with the views of many other writers, the Erdogan government in Turkey restarted the conflict with the Kurdish people and is responsible for killing many civilians. It jeopardises the lives of hundreds of thousands more by doing so. This is the fault of Recep Erdogan’s personal craving for power, military glory and victory, for which reason he has chosen to wage war on his own country’s territory.

As Prashad states, “The Turkish government believes it can score a military victory against the PKK, which is why it has been striking PKK camps inside Turkey, Iraq and Syria”.

The Erdogan regime, which the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) pledges Britain, America and other “democracies” to defend militarily, is at war with its own people, using tanks and artillery to shell its own predominantly Kurdish cities. It is shelling the heroes who have repelled ISIS in Northern Syria. Even more scandalously, the Turkish regime has managed to conflate the opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) with the banned PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) which is the national liberation movement striving for an independent Kurdish state. In fact, the PKK was committed to peace with Turkey, until Turkey violated the ceasefire. There is surprisingly little coverage of Turkey’s open war against Kurds and opposition figures, the result of Turkish regime censorship and additional censorship by its NATO allies.

The Erdogan government is acting irrationally within Turkey, calling everyone a “traitor” who criticizes its policies. It has already been under fire from many commentators for its air war against anti-ISIS Kurdish fighters in Syria, which has led to airstrikes essentially backing up ISIS attacks. It has almost started a war with Russia by downing a bomber aircraft that was attacking ISIS positions. Why has NATO not suspended Turkey’s membership in the alliance in response to its aggression? It seems that in this case, NATO is more committed to harming Russia and other geopolitical enemies than supporting democracy or human rights, but was that ever not the case?

If this is not enough to convince you that Erdogan’s Turkey is not irrational and dangerous, consider that Erdogan is trying to gain more authority for his office and recently cited Adolf Hitler’s government as an example of an effective presidential system. At an earlier date, he made similarly Hitler-like remarks when he threatened Russia with a military invasion, promising that NATO would be ready to back him up with an endless supply of men and materiel. This is still a character the Western “democracies” are sworn to defend. He is also someone who has essentially been on the front-line of the West’s campaign to get rid of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, and the most vocal advocate in the world for “no fly zones” and “safe zones” for people to escape the apparent tyranny of Assad (total madness considering the Syrian Air Force is now striking terrorists with impunity alongside the Russian Aerospace Forces, who cannot be threatened without risking devastating escalation with Moscow).

The situation in Turkey is almost a civil war, and with Erdogan surrounded by hostile actors and people he has betrayed, the future looks very gloomy for him in this growing conflict. It would be very surprising if Russia did not seek revenge on Turkey by recognizing and supporting claims to national independence by Kurdish groups. It would be surprising if Russia was not seeking alternative ties within the Turkish political system and military to find someone capable of reason rather than Erdogan.

Most people today outside of Turkey are starting to acknowledge that Turkey is run by a maniac who intends to become a dictator, if not a king. He is leading Turkey into disaster, just like his role model Hitler led Germany into disaster. At this stage, anyone other than Erdogan and his clique would be a more suitable government in Ankara.

Erdogan’s war on Kurds needs to stop. The dispute with the Kurds needs to be resolved by giving the Kurds more autonomy or a nation-state of their own, rather than waging endless wars on them.