NCJ Number
225146
Date Published
2007
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses the arguments offered by the PKK/KONGRA-GEL (PKK), an organization committed to establishing a Kurdish state separate from Turkey through the use of terrorist tactics, as well as counterarguments of the Turkish Government regarding its efforts to resist PKK objectives and counter its terrorist tactics.
Abstract
The authors conclude that although some of the Turkish Government’s policies might have contributed to the rise and radicalization of the PKK as a terrorist organization, the terrorist activities of the PKK can never be justified. The PKK has mounted many arguments on behalf of the Kurdish population in Turkey in order to justify the establishment of a separate state. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which contained many ethnic groups in its territories, the Turkish Republic was established in 1923. The Turkish Republic declared itself as an absolute secular state, with Turkish as the official language and those living in its territory as “Turks,” regardless of their ethnicities. This deeply offended those ethnic groups that had maintained their ethnic identities under the policies of the Ottoman Empire. The political instability and turmoil in Turkey between the 1960s and 1980s spurred the creation and support for the PKK in its objective to establish a separate Kurdish state. Given the Turkish Government’s unwillingness to accept this political division of its territory, the stage was set for a long-term conflict, with the PKK adopting violent tactics that showed little restraint in its selection of civilian targets. The Turkish Government claims that the PKK is not a legitimate representative of the Kurdish people and that there is no distinctive political or territorial history that supports a separate Kurdish national identity. The Turkish Government is promoting economic development in Kurdish regions so they will feel they have a stake in remaining Turkish. 1 table and 31 references