DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Turkey’s ongoing security operations in the Kurdish-majority southeast are aimed at crushing Kurdish demands for self-rule and the grounds for any democratic discussion on the issue, the co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) said in an interview with Al-Monitor.
Kamuran Yuksek argued that the entrenchment of armed Kurdish militants behind ditches and barricades in residential neighborhoods was a “reaction” to Ankara’s policies rather than a cause of the current clashes. He warned the conflict could grow into a civil war.