A New Track towards Resolving Turkey’s Kurdish Issue

Abstract

:Turkey’s greatest security threats are connected to its unresolved Kurdish issue. Attempts by the Justice and Development Party goernment of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to end the conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey have so far been unsuccessful. Since the end of direct negotiations in July 2015 which included the jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, war in Turkey’s southeast has caused increased humanitarian tragedy and security costs for Turkey, undermining the good governance required for social stability. It is highly unlikely that military force will eliminate the PKK terrorist attacks or that any international pressure will induce the government to resume negotiations at the government level, the traditional Track I path. A new approach is needed. This article proposes that Turkish civil society organizations engage in Track II diplomacy that can reduce ethnic tensions and develop new ideas that increase the prospects for success over the long term for ending the PKK struggle and resolving the Kurdish Issue in Turkey.