Turkey’s military has kept up deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq on fighters linked to the Kurdish insurgent group P.K.K. in the two weeks since the movement’s founder called on his followers to lay down their arms and disband.
The P.K.K. leadership, which is based in the Qandil Mountains of Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, responded to the call by the founder, Abdullah Ocalan, by announcing a unilateral cease-fire on March 1. But they said that Turkey had to release Mr. Ocalan from prison to oversee the group’s disarmament, a possibility that Turkish officials have not publicly entertained.
Previous efforts to negotiate an end to the 40-year Turkey-P.K.K. conflict, which has killed more than 40,000 people, have failed. This time around, Turkish officials are releasing little information about the state of any talks. But it appears that the process is still moving forward, and analysts say Turkey is not discussing its progress to avoid a potential domestic backlash.
What is the P.K.K.?
For more than four decades, Turkey has been fighting an armed insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., a militant group that says it seeks greater rights for the country’s Kurdish minority.
The group began fighting the Turkish state in the early 1980s, originally seeking independence for the Kurds, who are believed to make up about 15 percent or more of Turkey’s population.
Starting from the mountains in eastern and southern Turkey, P.K.K. fighters attacked Turkish military bases and police stations, prompting harsh government responses. Later, the conflict spread to other parts of the country, with devastating P.K.K. bombings in Turkish cities that killed many civilians.
Over the last decade, the Turkish military has routed P.K.K. forces from major Kurdish cities in southeastern Turkey, while using drones to kill its leaders and fighters, hindering its ability to organize and carry out attacks.
Where do peace talks stand?
Mr. Ocalan, the founder of the P.K.K., issued a public call to his fighters on Feb. 27 to lay down their weapons and disband. He said armed struggle should be replaced with peaceful political action to try to win more rights for Kurds — Turkey’s largest ethnic minority.
The P.K.K. leadership responded to the call by declaring a unilateral cease-fire. But Turkey did not reciprocate.
Last week, a Turkish defense ministry spokesman, Rear Adm. Zeki Akturk, said that Turkey’s military would “continue its fight against terrorism with determination and resolve until there is not a single terrorist left.” Turkey considers all members of the P.K.K. and other affiliated groups “terrorists.”
Rear Admiral Ataturk said Turkey had killed 26 “terrorists” in Syria and Iraq in the previous week and nearly 1,500 since January.
The P.K.K. has not corroborated those numbers. But its military wing said last week that in recent days, Turkey had carried out more than 800 strikes on the group’s positions in northern Iraq using fighter jets, helicopters and artillery.
The peace talks up until now have not produced a bilateral cease-fire, and Turkish leaders have vowed to keep up the military pressure on the P.K.K., which Turkey and the United States consider a terrorist organization.
“Naturally, to solve our problems we prioritize dialogue, reconciliation and talks,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this month. “But if the hand we have extended is left in the air or bitten, we will keep our iron fist ready at all times.”
What does Turkey want?
Turkish officials have described their goal as a unilateral surrender by the P.K.K. Its fighters are expected to disarm, but there has been no public discussion of any concessions the government has offered in return or potential amnesties for people wanted for P.K.K.-related activity.
“The group understood the fact that it cannot achieve anything with terror, that it outlived its life span and has no choice but to dissolve itself,” said the defense ministry spokesman, Admiral Ataturk. “The P.K.K. and all its related groups should end terrorist activities, dissolve themselves and surrender their weapons as they lay them down unconditionally.”
Mr. Erdogan, too, said that Turkey would continue to use military force if the P.K.K. stalled or peace talks bogged down.
“We will continue our ongoing operations until the last terrorist is eliminated, without leaving a single stone on top of another and no heads atop any shoulders, if necessary,” he said.
What does the P.K.K. want?
The P.K.K. and groups associated with it have long sought greater rights for Turkey’s Kurds, whose language and culture the state has suppressed since Turkey was formed after World War I. While some schools in Turkey now offer elective Kurdish language courses and some Kurdish language broadcasters have received state licenses, many Kurds would like these rights to be expanded.
Last week, Mustafa Karasu, a senior P.K.K. official, said in a televised interview that the group was serious about disarmament but that Turkey had to stop striking P.K.K. positions. He went on to say that Mr. Ocalan needed more freedom to be able to help lead the group’s transition.
“We will realize the transformation the leadership has set forth, the dissolution of the P.K.K., ending the armed struggle. No one should doubt that,” Mr. Karasu said. “And naturally the state, the government, should do what is necessary about democratization without adopting any excuses.”
Mr. Ocalan’s call was preceded by talks that included Turkish officials, Mr. Ocalan, Iraqi Kurdish leaders and members of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish political party.
Are Kurdish-led forces in Syria affected?
Mr. Ocalan is also a figurehead for a Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls a stretch of territory in northeastern Syria.
The Turkish government considers that militia an offshoot of the P.K.K. and publicly makes little distinction between them. But the United States views the two groups very differently, and for a decade has allied with the S.D.F. in fighting the jihadists of the Islamic State in Syria.
On Monday, the leader of the S.D.F. reached an agreement with Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, to integrate the Kurdish-led force into the new Syrian state.
Although Mr. Ocalan did not mention Syria specifically in his call for disarmament, some Syrian Kurdish leaders have said that the agreement falls in line with Mr. Ocalan’s guidance.
