“We are on the eve of two utterly critical dates.” These words belong to one of the key players in Turkey’s fragile peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). In this context, “dates” most certainly translates as “deadlines.”
Based on Aug. 15 statements by Abdullah Ocalan, the outlawed armed movement’s jailed leader, Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the PKK’s political wing, conveyed the message that pressure from the Kurdish issue will be increasing on Turkey's already loaded political agenda.