Publication

Since large-scale hostilities with the PKK resumed in summer 2011, Turkey has experienced the worst fighting since it captured and jailed the insurgency’s leader, Abdullah Öcalan, in 1999. Prolonged clashes with militants in the south east, kidnappings and attacks on civilians suggest hardliners are gaining the upper hand in the insurgent PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). The government and mainstream media, however, should resist the impulse to call for all out anti-terrorist war and focus instead, together with Kurds, on long-term conflict resolution.