Turkey's Kurdish Problem: Steps Toward a Solution (original) (raw)

A New Track towards Resolving Turkey’s Kurdish Issue

Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Turkey's greatest security threats are connected to its unresolved Kurdish issue. Attempts by the Justice and Development Party government of President Recep Tayyip Erdo an to end the conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey have so far been unsuccessful. Since the end of direct negotiations in July 2015 which included the jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, war in Turkey's southeast has caused increased humanitarian tragedy and security costs for Turkey, undermining the good governance required for social stability. It is highly unlikely that military force will eliminate the PKK terrorist attacks or that any international pressure will induce the government to resume negotiations at the government level, the traditional Track I path. A new approach is needed. This article proposes that Turkish civil society organizations engage in Track II diplomacy that can reduce ethnic tensions and develop new ideas that increase the prospects for success over the long term for ending the PKK struggle and resolving the Kurdish Issue in Turkey.

Turkey's Kurdish Conflict: Pathways to Progress

Insight Turkey, 2012

151 FALL 2012 ABSTRACT The Kurdish conflict in Turkey, what has become known as the “Kurdish Question”, has deep historical and cultural roots which can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire and its demise. Efforts by the Kurds in the broader region, which encompasses the Kurdish populations in Syria, Iran and Iraq, to move towards self-determination, political representation, freedom from discrimination, and recognition of their identity as an ethnic group, have continuously been marred by oppression and violence.1 Undoubtedly, the complex and divergent attitudes towards the Kurds, their demands and their situation have all delayed progress and impeded the achievement of a satisfactory solution. Attempts to meet calls for Kurdish autonomy and selfdetermination within existing states and political structures have differed and

Turkey’s New Approaches toward the PKK, Iraqi Kurds and the Kurdish Question

2008

ABSTRACT In a sharp break from the past, Turkey's AK Party government now openly accepts the existence of a domestic Kurdish problem, and views it moreover as being mutually interrelated with the rise of separatism among Iraqi Kurds and the problem of PKK terrorism. Turkey now has official contacts with the Iraqi Kurds and is working to find a lasting solution to the Kurdish problem by implementing socio-economic and cultural measures in addition to the military one.

ANALYSIS OF TURKEY’S 2013 KURDISH INITIATIVE

In 2013, the Turkish government’s new initiative to seek a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict resulted in indirect negotiations with Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK). Turkey has been facing a long and bloody period of ethnic conflict with PKK for the last three decades. Since 1984 more than 40,000 Turkish citizens lost their lives during this conflict. this research paper is to analyze the Turkish Government’s 2013 Kurdish Initiative. The research question is whether this initiative can help end Turkey’s Kurdish ethnic conflict?

The Conflict Resolution and Counterterrorism Dilemma: Turkey Faces its Kurdish Question

Terrorism and Political Violence, 2011

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