While what Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan actually has in mind as a solution to the Kurdish issue remains a mystery, it might be useful to review the history of the conflict.

World War I brought a painful end to the Ottoman Empire, stripping it of its dignity and leaving little in its wake except enmity and hatred among its former subjects. Reflecting on this period, Kurdish nationalists came to believe that they had missed an opportunity to carve out their own homeland. Since that time, the Kurdish issue, according to most of modern Turkey’s governments, has represented a challenge to Turkish unity.

Turgut Ozal was prime minister when the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched its first attack on Turkish soil in 1984 in its plan to seize land from Turkey and establish an independent Kurdistan. With the Cold War at a peak, Ozal had good relations with Washington as the leader of a strategic ally and NATO member. US policymakers were quick to condemn PKK attacks and lent assistance to the Turkish military and security forces in their fight against the group. 

In short order, Turkey launched military operations in pursuit of PKK militantsincluding cross-border raids into northern Iraq, where there is a sizeable Kurdish population. This did not concern US leaders or Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In fact, Ankara and Baghdad cooperated against the PKK throughout the 1980s. Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, respectively, complained to no avail. No one trusted them at the time.