Why Turkey Should Woo the PKK and Syria's Kurds
Turkey’s war against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) puts it in conflict with neighbors in three countries: Syria, Iraq and Iran. Hoshank Awsi writes that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s denunciations of Syrian Kurds are dangerous, and that Ankara should instead pursue reconciliation with the PKK.
Students Baver, Aslan aged 21 (L) and Dilan Yilmaz, aged 19, from the Kurdish-dominated south eastern city of Diyarbakir, pose in traditional outfits during a May Day rally in Istanbul May 1, 2012. Photo by REUTERS/Murad Sezer.
Aug 7, 2012
The Turks have returned to their old/new threats, refusing to permit the "presence of terrorists" on their southern border — the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), to be precise. Turkey knows that the PKK is in Istanbul, Ankara and all Kurdish cities in the southeast of the country. It knows that the PKK is in the heart of the Turkish Parliament and that this party's fighters, cadres and political and cultural institutions are all over the Turkish mountains, villages, cities and prisons.
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