After the PKK's attack on Ankara in Türkiye, leaders debate how to end the conflict
analysis
EBy Eric Tlozek
Topic:Unrest, Conflict and War
This week, the PKK attacked a state-run aerospace and defence company on the outskirts of Ankara.
Türkiye's relationship with Kurdish nationalists is the political problem that won't go away.
This week's attack on a major defence contractor near Ankara came just one day after a controversial call to release the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, if he renounced violence and disbanded the group.
Türkiye's interior minister now says one of the attackers has been identified as a PKK member.
The PKK, a listed terrorist group in both Türkiye and Australia, has been waging a four-decade-long insurgency in pursuit of Kurdish self-determination, although more recently it has pursued some form of political autonomy for majority Kurdish areas in Türkiye's south-east instead of secession.
Türkiye says the PKK's campaign has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984 and it regards the group as its biggest security threat.
The PKK has historically targeted police and military sites, but civilians have also been killed in attacks attributed to the group.
Türkiye's government views any support for Kurdish self-determination, in Türkiye or elsewhere, with enormous suspicion, and pursues its advocates internationally.
An Australian Kurdish woman, Lenna Aslan, was recently arrested in Istanbul and is being held on suspicion of supporting the group.
The call from Devlet Bahceli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement, to allow jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to address Türkiye's parliament if he renounced violence and disbanded the group was met with surprise by many and outrage by Turkish ultranationalists.
Some politicians welcomed it, saying it provided a clear way to end the conflict and would justify Türkiye taking a harder line against the PKK if it was rejected.
A senior PKK member, Murat Karayilan, said the group did not think Bahceli's proposal was reasonable, but would consider other attempts to negotiate an end the conflict.
People wave pictures of Abdullah Ocalan as they gather to celebrate Newroz.
"If a situation develops in which true Kurdish patriotism that considers the interests of Turkey becomes predominant and they [the Turkish government] will take some new steps on this basis, the Kurdish side will not say 'no' to this, but they will never get tricked," he told pro-PKK websites.
The attack on Turkish Aerospace Industries – a major defence company that produces drones used by the Turkish Air Force against Kurdish militants – is a reminder of how urgent the need to end the conflict is.
Kurds in Türkiye and the wider region have long said their rights were being suppressed.
The northern part of Iraq is an autonomous Kurdish province known as "Iraqi Kurdistan", while the Kurds of north-eastern Syria declared their own self-governing region known as Rojava in 2016.
Kurds in both Türkiye and Iran say the governments of those countries have suppressed Kurdish rights, language and culture.
Türkiye's government says Kurdish separatism is counter-productive and dangerous.
"[The] PKK wants to suppress the diversity of Türkiye, prevent participation and integration of Türkiye's citizens of Kurdish origin and intimidate the people in the region," it says.
A 2013 ceasefire broke down in 2015 after a "resolution process" with the Turkish government failed.
The brief window of discussion that opened with Devlet Bahceli's proposal may now be overshadowed by calls, including from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to "eliminate terrorism".
The chairman of Turkiye's pro-Kurdish People's Equality and Democacy Party, Sezai Temelli, urged Turkish politicians to pursue a peaceful, rather than punitive, process.
"The timing is ironic and it is an obvious provocation," he said.
"We have to stand against such developments and must persistently respond to the expectation of society to live in peace. Every late step we take costs lives."
By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-25/turkiye-leaders-debate-how-to-end-pkk-conflict/104515166(责任编辑：admin)
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