NCJ Number
217699
Journal
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2007 Pages: 157-172
Date Published
February 2007
Length
16 pages
Annotation
After a review of the Kurdish and Turkish conflict in Turkey, this article presents strategies leading to a possible solution to the unrest.
Abstract
Several recommendations are presented for immediate implementation: civic action training for Turkish military and security personnel; open-ended conversations between moderate Turks and Kurds to define areas of accommodation; preemptive targeting of the PKK’s military leadership; a commitment of resources to Turkey’s economically deprived southeast, as well as American assistance against the PKK and targeted European Union economic assistance. Many factors are inhibiting a democratic solution of Turkey’s Kurdish problem, such as deep Kurdish and Turkish mistrust for each other, the Kurdish terrorist organization PKK (Kurdish Workers Party), the inadequacy of the government’s reform reassures, and the leadership of the Kurdish community. Before all else, the wounds of the past must be bound up, and the removal of economic anxieties could make a remarkable contribution in the process. Notes