DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Turkish President Abdullah Gul told journalists in 2009, “Some great things are going to happen on the Kurdish problem soon.”

Everyone was excited by what appeared to be a door finally opening to resolving Turkey's volatile relationship with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States. Four years later, a message from PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan from Imrali prison to mass crowds at Nowruz celebrations amplified hopes when he sensationally called for giving up guns and pursuing a political solution. Ocalan is serving a life sentence for treason.

Then an unexpected accord was reached in February 2015 at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace between the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) and government officials. The deal generated widespread optimism that a solution was imminent. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced he would not recognize the Dolmabahce Accord one month later. Now the resumption of clashes, trench warfare in towns and Erdogan's declaration of a state of emergency have wiped out any hope for a solution.

The prevailing opinion was that Erdogan's softening Kurdish policy was causing him to lose support in parts of western Turkey where anti-Kurdish sentiment ran high, and that's why he reverted to a policy of force. The government, which kept saying it was in a struggle against terror, resisted any opening to possibly solving the Kurdish issue and even discarded what minor progress had been made. It seemed the Kurdish issue could no longer be even mentioned.