Turkey's Kurdish opening: Long awaited achievements and failed expectations

Abstract

Turkish state actors have used mainly military means to first suppress the Kurdish rebellions and then to end the PKK violence from 1984 onwards. However, after the AKP came to office in 2002, the government challenged the hardline state policy and initiated a Kurdish opening. This policy has the ultimate goal of disarming the PKK and resolving the Kurdish question. However, the Kurdish opening so far has failed to bring about the desired policy outcomes because the parties to the Kurdish question have been highly divided on the side of both the state and the Kurds in Turkey.