Skip to main content

What do Turkey's Kurds expect from Biden's presidency?

Pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey are keeping their hope for Joe Biden’s presidency with utmost caution.
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - DECEMBER 01:  U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event to name his economic team at the Queen Theater on December 1, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden is nominating and appointing key positions of the team, including Janet Yellen to be Secretary of the Treasury.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Read in 

Turkey’s Kurds have reacted with cautious optimism over the election victory of former Vice President Joe Biden, hoping that new administration policies might force Turkey to pursue a more reconciliatory approach toward the Kurds, following the Trump administration’s nonchalance toward Turkey’s ongoing heavy-handed campaigns against the Kurdish groups at home and in Syria.

Among the hopeful is Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the third-largest party in the Turkish parliament. The HDP has been the main target of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government clampdown campaigns to quash political opposition in the country as hundreds of its members, including one of its top leaders, Selahattin Demirtas, have been imprisoned. 

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.