Turkish-PKK Peace Process Faces Deadlines
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is complicated by his domestic political agenda.
“We are on the eve of two utterly critical dates.” These words belong to one of the key players in Turkey’s fragile peace process with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). In this context, “dates” most certainly translates as “deadlines.”
Based on Aug. 15 statements by Abdullah Ocalan, the outlawed armed movement’s jailed leader, Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the PKK’s political wing, conveyed the message that pressure from the Kurdish issue will be increasing on Turkey's already loaded political agenda.
The sense of urgency in Demirtas’s statements was obvious. In what can be considered a “politely worded ultimatum” to the Justice and Development (AKP) government in particular, and to the Turkish parliament in general, Demirtas urged Ankara to be ready with its Kurdish reform package by Sept. 1 and to pass the relevant laws by Oct. 15.
So what happens, if, for example, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposes that the reforms be postponed until after the presidential elections scheduled for next summer?
