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Turkey's power struggle affects Kurdish issue

The current political crisis in Turkey could slow negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers Party.
Syrian Kurds wave a flag depicting PKK's (Kurdish Workers Party) jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan as they gather on the border with Turkey, near Mardin's Nusaybin district, on October 20, 2013. Kurdish people protest against the construction by the Turkish government of a 2.5-kilometer-long wall along the border between Turkey and Syria.   AFP PHOTO/ MEHMET ENGIN        (Photo credit should read MEHMET ENGIN/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The power struggle between Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen’s movement has shaken the political landscape in Turkey and could result in major changes for the Kurdish minority in Turkey.

The political clash between the Gulen movement and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was actually first exposed when Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s intelligence chief, was summoned to court for collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) Kurdish Communities Union (KCK).

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