What the Kurds have learned from the IRA.

last updated 8 January 2015

Turkey

Mehmet Ali Birand

The Kurds are evolving, said Mehmet Ali Birand in Istanbul’s Turkish Daily News, and Turkish analysts have been slow to recognize how. Our media still covers only the terrorist activities of the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK. But bombings and shootings are growing rarer. These aren’t your father’s Kurds. The Kurdish movement has been listening to Europe and the U.S., which won’t support terrorists but will support nationalist political movements. Now the Kurds “have adopted the attitude of the Irish Republican Army.” They have “divided into two movements, one armed and the other political.” The PKK is still around, but the new Democratic Society Party, which represents the political wing of the Kurdish movement, is much more prominent. Kurds are “voicing opinions through public opposition and elected mayors.” And the tactic is working. Kurdish separatism is gaining legitimacy and support abroad. Turkey is going to have to “break taboos” and share political and economic power with Kurdish regions—unpopular actions that will require political courage and sacrifice. Unfortunately for Turkish authorities, “it is easier to fight with terrorists” than compromise with political rivals.