President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent outbursts against the peace process with the Kurds have led to a profound confusion: Is Turkey gearing up for a new war with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the run-up to the general elections?

The controversy started when Erdogan raised objections to setting up a negotiating table for the next stage of the peace process, which had hitherto advanced in line with his guidance and with his knowledge. In response, the Kurdish side called off plans to hold a disarmament congress, charging that “Erdogan kicked the table.” The decision was first announced by Muzaffer Ayata, one of the PKK’s founders, and then confirmed by Bese Hozat, co-chair of the executive council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the Kurdish movement’s umbrella organization.

Kurdish sources suspect Erdogan could launch an onslaught on the Kurds after the June 7 elections, just as he did after his memorable May 4, 2007, meeting with then-chief of general staff Yasar Buyukanit in the Dolmabahce Palace. The meeting, which still remains shrouded in secrecy, was followed by a ground operation against the PKK in 2008, which yielded no results. In 2009, thousands of Kurds were put behind bars as part of a massive probe into the KCK, even though Turkish officials were simultaneously holding talks with PKK representatives in Oslo.

The new crisis, too, is building up in the wake of a meeting in Dolmabahce. This time, however, the government’s interlocutor was not the army but the Kurdish movement, namely a team of lawmakers from the People's Democracy Party (HDP) involved in the settlement process.