The Army of Türkiye has maintained mortal attacks in Syria and Iraq on fighters linked to the group of Kurdish insurgents in the two weeks since the founder of the movement invited his followers to lay his arms and melt.
The leadership of the PKK, which is based on the mountains of Qandil of the northern Kurdistan region of Iraq, responded to the call of the founder, Abdullah Ocalan, announcing a unilateral fire on March 1st. But they said that Turkey had to release Mr. Ocalalan as prison to supervise the group’s disagreement, a possibility that did not have fun publicly.
Previous efforts to negotiate the end of the 40-year-old Türkiye-Pkk conflict, who killed more than 40,000 people, have failed. This time, Turkish officials are releasing little information on the state of any interview. But it seems that the process is still going on and analysts say that Turkey is not discussing its progress to avoid a potential domestic repercussions.
What is PKK?
For more than four decades, Turkey has fought an armed insurrection by the Kurdistan workers’ party, or PKK, a militant group that says that it seeks greater rights for the Kurdish minority of the country.
The group began fighting the Turkish state in the early 80s, originally looking for independence for the Kurds, which is believed to constitute about 15 % or more of the Turkish population.
Starting from the mountains in Eastern and Southern Türkiye, the PKK fighters attacked the Turkish military bases and the police stations, causing harsh responses of the government. Later, the conflict spread to other parts of the country, with devastating PKK bombings in the Turkish cities that killed many civilians.
In the last decade, the Turkish soldiers have unrelated to the forces of the PKK from the main Kurdish cities in South -eastern Turkey, while they used drones to kill its leaders and fighters, hindering its ability to organize and carry out attacks.
Where are the peace talks?
Mr. Ocalan, the founder of the PKK, published a public call to his fighters on February 27 to lay their weapons and melt. He said that the armed struggle should be replaced with a peaceful political action to try to win more rights for the Kurds, the largest ethnic minority in Turkey.
Pkk’s leadership responded to the call by declaring unilateral fire. But Turkey has not reciprocated.
Last week, a spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Defense, the rear administrator Zeki Akturk, said that the Turkey soldiers “will continue his fight against terrorism with determination and resolution until only one terrorist remains”. Turkey considers all PKK members and other “terrorist” affiliated groups.
Admiral Ataturk said that Turkey had killed 26 “terrorists” in Syria and Iraq in the previous week and almost 1,500 since January.
The PKK has not confirmed those numbers. But his military wing declared last week that in the last few days Turkey had carried out more than 800 shots in the group’s positions in the northern Iraq using combat jets, helicopters and artillery.
Until now, peace has not produced a bilateral fire and Turkish leaders have promised to maintain military pressure on the PKK, which Turkey and the United States consider a terrorist organization.
“Of course, to solve our problems we give priority to dialogue, reconciliation and interviews,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this month. “But if the hand we have extended is left in the air or bite, we will always keep the iron fist.”
What does Turkey want?
Turkish officials have described their goal as a unilateral surrender by the PKK that its fighters should disarm, but there has been no public discussion on any concession offered by the government in exchange or potential amnies for the people desired for the activity related to the PKK.
“The group understood the fact that it cannot get anything with terror, which has survived its duration and has no other choice than dissolving,” said the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Admiral Ataturk. “The PKK and all its related groups should put an end to terrorist activities, dissolve and give up their weapons while they spread them unconditionally.”
Even Mr. Erdogan said that Turkey would continue to use military force if the PKK stopped or the peace interviews won.
“We will continue our operations underway until the last terrorist is eliminated, without leaving only one stone over the other and no head on top of any shoulder, if necessary,” he said.
What does PKK want?
The PKK and groups associated with it have long sought more rights for the Kurds of Turkey, whose language and culture has suppressed since Turkey formed after the First World War I. while some schools in Turkey now offer elective curd language courses and some Kurdish -speaking issues have received state licenses, many Kurds would be able to expand.
Last week, Mustafa Karasu, a high PKK official, said in a television interview that the group was serious about disarmament but that Turkey had to stop hitting the positions of the PKK. He continued by saying that Mr. Ocalan needed more freedom to help guide the group’s transition.
“We will remain to the transformation that the leadership has established, the dissolution of the PKK, ending the armed struggle. Nobody should doubt this, “said Karasu.” And of course the state, the government, should do what is needed on democratization without adopting excuses “.
Ocalan’s call was preceded by interviews that included Turkish officials, Ocalan, Iraqi Kurdish leaders and members of the main pro-Curdo Political Party of Türkiye.
Are Kurdish forces in Syria struck?
Ocalan is also a polena for a Kurdish militia, the Syrian democratic forces, which controls a stretch of territory in the north-eastern Syria.
The Turkish government considers that the militia a branch of the PKK and makes little distinction between them. But the United States consider the two groups in a very different way and for a decade he trained with the SDF in fighting the Jihadists of the Islamic State in Syria.
On Monday, the Leader of the SDF reached an agreement with the Interim President of Syria, Ahmed al-Shara, to integrate the force led by Curi in the new Syrian state.
Although Mr. Ocalan did not mention Syria specifically in his request for disarmament, some Syrian Kurdish leaders have said that the agreement is in line with the guidance of Mr. Ocalan.