Turkey, Kurds and the 40 Years of PKK War

Abstract

The paper aims at portraying Turkey’s 40-year-long combat with the separatist Kurdish movement, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with special focus on recent developments. It gives an overview about the development of Kurdish separatist’s movement and the subsequent reactions from the Turkish state. It also highlights the internal division within the Kurds inside and outside of Turkey. It argues that the military technology development and the cross border operations paved to way towards more efficient counter-insurgency efforts for Turkey, but geopolitical obstacles and the Kurdish nation-building hinder the military victory.