Turkey’s Second Kurdish Opening: Light at the End of the Tunnel or Another Failed Attempt?

Following a rebellion in 1925, Turkish became the exclusive language of the Turkish educational system and the bureaucracy; organizing to express ethnicity in a political way was banned. These measures, in retrospect, did not lead to Turkification but instead to a recalcitrant determination to retain and express ethnic identity, including the founding of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in 1974. After decades of conflict, the ruling AKP may have again opened negotiations with the PKK. While there are many obstacles to any peace process, there is no question that the public, tired of a long drawn-out, low-intensity conflict desires a solution.