The Turkish and Kurdish Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Turkish and Kurdish Conflict - Essay Example In 1920-1930s Kurds several times unsuccessfully rose against the Turkish authorities. In 1961 the Kurdish revolt in Iraq proceeding for several decades with breaks began. The growth of the Kurdish nationalism led to appearance of the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkerà ªn Kurdistan, PKK) in 1978 (Combs & Slann, 2007). It is the military-political organization that was formed at an initial stage of the fight (1984 - 1993) with the purpose of creation of the sovereign state of Kurds in Turkey. However, in 1993 the purpose was changed for creation of the Kurdish autonomy as a part of Turkey. In the same time the Turkish Kurds were exposed to persecutions: the use of the Kurdish language was forbidden, and the Kurdish nationality was considered to be nonexistent (authorities began to call Kurds "Mountain Turks"). On August 15, 1984 PKK began guerrilla war in the east and southeast provinces of Turkey. The regular Turkish army was involved to fight against guerrillas, in 1987 state of emergency was declared in the region. The main Kurdish bases were located in the north of Iraq. Under the agreement between the governments of two countries, the Turkish security forces had the right to interfere into the territory of Iraq, pursuing guerrilla groups. Within the 1990th years Turkey performed a number of military actions in Iraq (the largest in 1995 and 1997). The capture of the leader of PKK Abdullah Oà §alan by the American and Israeli services in Kenya on February 15, 1999 became the largest success of Turkey in fight against PKK. Before the capture on September 1, 1998 Abdullah Oà §alan urged RKK to call a truce, and after the capture — to send all combatant forces to the north of Iraq. After that guerrilla fight of PKK started to slow down.