AKParty Response to Criticism: Reaction or Over-Reaction?

On January 8, around 1,100 academics (mostly Turkish but more than 300 foreign) issued a statement calling on the government to stop its armed measures to counter PKK actions. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s reaction, soon emulated by the government as a whole, was both unusually strong and problematic. Why did the government choose to move harshly against the signatories and insist that their declaration be met with sanctions? A first argument is that the government has been deeply immersed in dealing with an emergency that, if not terminated, may become an existential question. A rival explanation focuses on the intentions and the purported agenda of the government. Will the government cool down, or will it become more hardline?