Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has been negotiating with Abdullah Ocalan, the founding head of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who is serving a life sentence in prison. Turkey's mainstream media has labeled these negotiations “the Imrali process.” This so-called "process" has yet to pave the way for peace negotiations with the PKK.

Of course, it is impossible to solve the issue by speaking only with an isolated Ocalan. It is indisputable that there will be no progress unless the negotiation process includes — directly or indirectly — the political and military wings of the Kurdish movement.

It will be hard to transform the Imrali process into a real peace process as long as operations continue against the PKK.

But first, this question needs a clear answer: What does Erdogan want to achieve in this process? What is his objective? Is it to solve the Kurdish question — Turkey’s most difficult, complicated problem? Or is it to use negotiations to end the PKK terror — which the Turkish state hasn't been able to eliminate in 30 years of military operations?