Ever since the Gezi Park demonstrations and the coup in Egypt that toppled his allies in the Muslim Brotherhood, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been laboring under a siege mentality which is forcing him to see domestic and foreign enemies all around. His international reputation has plummeted as a result. History, however, has provided him with a unique opportunity to redeem himself both in Turkey and the region in the shape of the Kurds.

This, however, is contingent on his ability to solve Turkey’s age-old Kurdish problem through the current peace process his government has initiated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an armed group formed to seek autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds. It is also contingent on his ability to establish not just amicable, but also mutually beneficial ties with the Kurds across the border.

If Erdogan can achieve this — and it is achievable — he will have carved a well-merited place for himself in the history books. Solving this problem by democratic means and with respect for human rights will also enable Erdogan to spring back as a promoter of genuine, and not majoritarian, democracy in the Middle East. If not, however, Turkey’s Kurdish problem will continue to fester and remain a ball and chain on the country’s prospects of ever joining the ranks of the world’s advanced democracies.

One of Ankara’s most elemental fears for decades has been the emergence of an independent Kurdistan on its borders. It was feared that an independent Kurdistan would spur its own restive Kurdish population by tempting it to vie for separation from Turkey. Years of oppression against its own Kurds, and the demonization of Kurds in neighboring countries, however, has been unable to halt the march of events.