Turkey’s army has stored up lethal assaults in Syria and Iraq on fighters linked to the Kurdish rebel group P.Ok.Ok. within the two weeks for the reason that motion’s founder known as on his followers to put down their arms and disband.
The P.Ok.Ok. management, which relies within the Qandil Mountains of Iraq’s northern Kurdistan area, responded to the decision by the founder, Abdullah Ocalan, by announcing a unilateral cease-fire on March 1. However they mentioned that Turkey needed to launch Mr. Ocalan from jail to supervise the group’s disarmament, a risk that Turkish officers haven’t publicly entertained.
Earlier efforts to barter an finish to the 40-year Turkey-P.K.K. conflict, which has killed greater than 40,000 individuals, have failed. This time round, Turkish officers are releasing little details about the state of any talks. However it seems that the method remains to be shifting ahead, and analysts say Turkey just isn’t discussing its progress to keep away from a possible home backlash.
What’s the P.Ok.Ok.?
For greater than 4 many years, Turkey has been preventing an armed insurgency by the Kurdistan Employees’ Social gathering, or P.Ok.Ok., a militant group that claims it seeks higher rights for the nation’s Kurdish minority.
The group started preventing the Turkish state within the early Nineteen Eighties, initially in search of independence for the Kurds, who’re believed to make up about 15 % or extra of Turkey’s inhabitants.
Ranging from the mountains in jap and southern Turkey, P.Ok.Ok. fighters attacked Turkish army bases and police stations, prompting harsh authorities responses. Later, the battle unfold to different components of the nation, with devastating P.Ok.Ok. bombings in Turkish cities that killed many civilians.
During the last decade, the Turkish army has routed P.Ok.Ok. forces from main Kurdish cities in southeastern Turkey, whereas utilizing drones to kill its leaders and fighters, hindering its capability to arrange and perform assaults.
The place do peace talks stand?
Mr. Ocalan, the founding father of the P.Ok.Ok., issued a public call to his fighters on Feb. 27 to lay down their weapons and disband. He mentioned armed wrestle ought to be changed with peaceable political motion to attempt to win extra rights for Kurds — Turkey’s largest ethnic minority.
The P.Ok.Ok. management responded to the decision by declaring a unilateral cease-fire. However Turkey didn’t reciprocate.
Final week, a Turkish protection ministry spokesman, Rear Adm. Zeki Akturk, mentioned that Turkey’s army would “proceed its combat in opposition to terrorism with dedication and resolve till there’s not a single terrorist left.” Turkey considers all members of the P.Ok.Ok. and different affiliated teams “terrorists.”
Rear Admiral Ataturk mentioned Turkey had killed 26 “terrorists” in Syria and Iraq within the earlier week and almost 1,500 since January.
The P.Ok.Ok. has not corroborated these numbers. However its army wing mentioned final week that in latest days, Turkey had carried out greater than 800 strikes on the group’s positions in northern Iraq utilizing fighter jets, helicopters and artillery.
The peace talks up till now haven’t produced a bilateral cease-fire, and Turkish leaders have vowed to maintain up the army stress on the P.Ok.Ok., which Turkey and the US contemplate a terrorist group.
“Naturally, to unravel our issues we prioritize dialogue, reconciliation and talks,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned this month. “But when the hand we’ve got prolonged is left within the air or bitten, we are going to maintain our iron fist prepared always.”
What does Turkey need?
Turkish officers have described their aim as a unilateral give up by the P.Ok.Ok. Its fighters are anticipated to disarm, however there was no public dialogue of any concessions the federal government has supplied in return or potential amnesties for individuals needed for P.Ok.Ok.-related exercise.
“The group understood the truth that it can not obtain something with terror, that it outlived its life span and has no selection however to dissolve itself,” mentioned the protection ministry spokesman, Admiral Ataturk. “The P.Ok.Ok. and all its associated teams ought to finish terrorist actions, dissolve themselves and give up their weapons as they lay them down unconditionally.”
Mr. Erdogan, too, mentioned that Turkey would proceed to make use of army power if the P.Ok.Ok. stalled or peace talks slowed down.
“We’ll proceed our ongoing operations till the final terrorist is eradicated, with out leaving a single stone on prime of one other and no heads atop any shoulders, if mandatory,” he mentioned.
What does the P.Ok.Ok. need?
The P.Ok.Ok. and teams related to it have lengthy sought higher rights for Turkey’s Kurds, whose language and tradition the state has suppressed since Turkey was shaped after World Warfare I. Whereas some faculties in Turkey now supply elective Kurdish language programs and a few Kurdish language broadcasters have obtained state licenses, many Kurds would love these rights to be expanded.
Final week, Mustafa Karasu, a senior P.Ok.Ok. official, mentioned in a televised interview that the group was critical about disarmament however that Turkey needed to cease hanging P.Ok.Ok. positions. He went on to say that Mr. Ocalan wanted extra freedom to have the ability to assist lead the group’s transition.
“We’ll notice the transformation the management has set forth, the dissolution of the P.Ok.Ok., ending the armed wrestle. Nobody ought to doubt that,” Mr. Karasu mentioned. “And naturally the state, the federal government, ought to do what is critical about democratization with out adopting any excuses.”
Mr. Ocalan’s name was preceded by talks that included Turkish officers, Mr. Ocalan, Iraqi Kurdish leaders and members of Turkey’s important pro-Kurdish political social gathering.
Are Kurdish-led forces in Syria affected?
Mr. Ocalan can also be a figurehead for a Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls a stretch of territory in northeastern Syria.
The Turkish authorities considers that militia an offshoot of the P.Ok.Ok. and publicly makes little distinction between them. However the US views the 2 teams very otherwise, and for a decade has allied with the S.D.F. in preventing the jihadists of the Islamic State in Syria.
On Monday, the chief of the S.D.F. reached an agreement with Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, to combine the Kurdish-led power into the brand new Syrian state.
Though Mr. Ocalan didn’t point out Syria particularly in his name for disarmament, some Syrian Kurdish leaders have mentioned that the settlement falls in keeping with Mr. Ocalan’s steerage.
