Kurds seek to fast-track peace process
To prevent things from getting out of hand in Turkey's peace process, both the government and the Kurds need to be acutely aware that they have much to lose from a total collapse of the talks.
A day before Christmas Eve 2014, Turkey’s mass circulation daily Hurriyet ran the headline: “Imrali Masasi,” meaning "Imrali table." Imrali is the prison island where Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), is serving a life sentence; the "table" is the negotiation table.
Another headline reading “The New Period in the Process” was placed atop a picture of a table ringed with empty chairs.
Hurriyet's cover story heralded a new stage in Turkey’s resolution process of the Kurdish issue. The newspaper reported that the Turkish government and the Kurdish side would gather at the negotiating table to launch a series of overdue talks to rapidly resolve the long deadly conflict.
The government’s negotiating team will be led by a security official, Undersecretary of Public Security Muhammed Dervisoglu — a name being heard by the Turkish public for the first time. Dervisoglu previously served as deputy to National Intelligence Director Hakan Fidan, who had been conducting talks with Ocalan in his prison cell for several years.
