Turkey’s internal front: the conflict with the Kurds escalates

Neither the political stabilisation since the November 2015 election nor winter, which used to be an extinguishing factor in the past, had been able to halt the Turkish-Kurdish conflict which was unfrozen in July 2015. At least 214 militants and around 100 civilians were reportedly killed in battles already since mid-December. According to extreme estimates, there were around 200,000 internal refugees in the country. In the territories affected by the fighting, there had been declarations of allegiance to the government being ended and attempts to build alternative structures had been observed – informal ‘people’s assemblies’ and city mayors announced local autonomies inspired by the Kurdish rebels. Furthermore, an extraordinary meeting of the Democratic Society Congress, an organisation which unites radical Kurdish activists linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the pro-Kurdish parliamentary People’s Democratic Party (HDP) was held at the end of December 2015. The Congress directly questioned the unity of the Turkish state and demanded broad autonomy for areas with a Kurdish majority population. Both sides had radicalised their stances at the present stage; HDP’s political demands had become very similar to those of PKK, and the government was responding to this with force. This made a political compromise less likely. The conflict was also adversely affecting Turkey’s ability to carry out its interests in regional policy (in Syria and Iraq) – because Ankara was busy dealing with internal tension, which raised concerns of the West co-operating with Turkey, for example, on the migration issue.

ESO: Background information: Turkish-Kurdish conflict spills over into Europe http://www.europeansources.info/record/turkish-kurdish-conflict-spills-over-into-europe/

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