 |
Reforms, not war will end PKK, ICG tells Turkey
"A hot war and militaristic tactics did not solve the Kurdish problem in the 1990s and will not now," the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report.
"The Turkish authorities must implement radical judicial, social and political measures that persuade all Turkish Kurds they are fully respected citizens," it said.
Speculation that a cross-border offensive is on the cards has been ripe following a surge of attacks by PKK terrorists, which prompted Turkish air and artillery raids last month on PKK targets in northern Iraq.
Last week, Turkish Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin said Turkey was preparing a possible ground operation in northern Iraq, depending on the result of talks with Iraq.
After a clear victory in a June vote, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to press ahead with cultural and political reforms addressing Kurds' grievances.
But a wave of PKK attacks have brought fears of a return to a hardline stance in the 27-year-old fight against the terrorist group, with Erdoğan recently warning he had lost patience with the PKK.
The ICG said that with instability in neighboring Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad has launched a crackdown on protesters challenging his rule, and the planned pullout of US troops from Iraq, Ankara must take "courageous steps" to resolve the roots of its "most urgent and dangerous problem".
Among its recommendations, the ICG said Erdoğan should legalize the use of Kurdish in all schools, overhaul tough anti-terror laws which have sent more than 3,000 Kurdish politicians to jail for PKK links and lower the 10 percent threshold political parties must cross to enter Parliament.
"Even while bombing PKK targets in northern Iraq, engaging in special operations in the southeast such as those begun in mid-August, and considering a ground offensive, Turkish authorities should never forget that a political settlement will still likely be needed in the end," the report said.
The ICG also called on the PKK to lay down arms and urged the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the largest party representing the Kurds, to end its boycott of Parliament and engage in planned constitutional reforms with the government.
Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has pledged to work with the opposition to draft a new charter to replace one drafted after a military coup in 1980.
The issue of greater rights for Turkey's Kurds is likely to dominate the debate on a new charter in the European Union candidate country, but the BDP has boycotted parliament in protest at court rulings that barred some of its jailed elected candidates from taking seats.
Turkey has launched several cross-border air and ground operations in northern Iraq during a conflict that first erupted in the 1980s. The PKK is fighting for greater autonomy and Kurdish rights, having earlier sought a separate state.
The last major incursion was in early 2008, when Turkey sent 10,000 troops, backed by air power, into northern Iraq.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and is now listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. More than 40,000 people have died in the separatist insurgency.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BÜLENT KENEŞ |  |
||
| What befell Niyazi-i Misri in the past is happening to Fethullah Gülen now | |||
| EKREM DUMANLI |  |
||
| When a call for fairness and reason finds acceptance | |||
| ŞAHİN ALPAY |  |
||
| Uludere, test case for democracy in Turkey | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Are the Kurds mentally divorced from Turkey? | |||
| GÖKHAN BACIK |  |
||
| Erdoğan, Gül and Davutoğlu: the inner bargain on Turkish foreign policy | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| Taking lessons from previous experiences with the military | |||
| YAVUZ BAYDAR |  |
||
| Qualm | |||
| ÖMER TAŞPINAR |  |
||
| A new phase in Syria? | |||
| İHSAN DAĞI |  |
||
| Turkish foreign policy: Time for a re-evaluation | |||
| SEYFETTİN GÜRSEL |  |
||
| Poor-friendly economic growth and the AK Party | |||
| CHARLOTTE MCPHERSON |  |
||
| Missing women, missing opportunities | |||
| BERK ÇEKTİR |  |
||
| Changes to incentives for investment in Turkey | |||
| MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK |  |
||
| The 1960 coup: a final test for democracy | |||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
