The announcement by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that it will pull thousands of its militants out of Turkey and into northern Iraq beginning May 8, under a deal worked out with the Turkish government, will boost Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's popularity at home, regardless of nationalist accusations that he is negotiating in Turkey's name with a terrorist organization.

This doesn't change the fact that many Turks remain wary about what the PKK will get in return for ending its separatist terrorism, which has cost up to 40,000 Turkish and Kurdish lives over the past three decades. This shows that Erdogan's real task is still ahead of him, as the process with the PKK enters the political stage.

Key PKK figures are already declaring their intention to continue pushing for expanded rights and regional autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds, entering the political domain after officially ending their armed struggle through a final peace deal with the Turkish government.  

It remains hard for the Turkish public to swallow the sight of hardened PKK members — who have ordered deadly strikes against Turkish soldiers and policemen — operating openly as politicians in Turkey. But if PKK attacks are seen to have stopped in earnest, and the departure from Turkey by armed PKK elements is verified, public support for the current “process” with the PKK is likely to continue, despite some lingering doubts.