Should the Turkish Government Break The Law For Peace?
Although Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan insists that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) should withdraw from Turkey without their weapons, this is not likely to happen, writes Kadri Gursel.
Security and disarmament dimensions of the peace process between the Turkish government and the PKK have had three critical thresholds, each more decisive than the last: First a cease-fire, then the withdrawal of armed PKK forces from Turkey and, finally, the PKK fully disarming.
We are now in the first phase of a cease-fire. This, the easiest phase, is proceeding successfully.
There have been many cease-fires between the PKK and the Turkish state. Most of those were made possible by the state more or less respecting the movement’s decision to cease action. The longest-lasting period of no action was the one initiated unilaterally by the movement after the handing over of Abdullah Ocalan to Turkey in 1999. The organization ended that period in 2004, also unilaterally.
In the phase calling for withdrawal of PKK armed elements from rural areas to outside of Turkish borders, things appear to be getting complicated, at least when you look from outside.
