Ever since the Gezi Park demonstrations and the coup in Egypt that toppled his allies in the Muslim Brotherhood, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been laboring under a siege mentality which is forcing him to see domestic and foreign enemies all around. His international reputation has plummeted as a result. History, however, has provided him with a unique opportunity to redeem himself both in Turkey and the region in the shape of the Kurds.
This, however, is contingent on his ability to solve Turkey’s age-old Kurdish problem through the current peace process his government has initiated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an armed group formed to seek autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds. It is also contingent on his ability to establish not just amicable, but also mutually beneficial ties with the Kurds across the border.
