Possibility of ceasefire increases as PKK leader presents roadmap to Turkish government

The imprisoned leader of the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, has sent a 20-page hand-written roadmap to the Turkish government and leading representatives of his own organisation for securing peace in Turkey, local media sources reported on 28 February.

Turkey's critical juncture

The conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces, Türk Silahli Kuvvetleri (TSK), and the PKK has ravaged Turkey since 1984 as the PKK has fought for initially Kurdish statehood and later regional autonomy, as well as political and cultural recognition in Turkey, by using military means. Until the last few years, Kurdish identity in Turkey has been denied. While significant progress has been made over the last decade, previous attempts to find a political solution to the Kurdish issue have failed largely due to an unfavourable political environment that has been dominated by the influence of Turkish nationalism in domestic politics.

Two key factors that have brought Turkey to a critical point in its long-running conflict with the PKK are the dependency of the ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi: AKP) on the Kurdish vote, and public sentiment. Since March 2012, attacks by the PKK have escalated in scale and intensity with Turkey witnessing the worst level of violence in a decade. A larger segment of the Turkish electorate now wants the government to find a political solution to the Kurdish issue.