Is it ripe yet? Resolving Turkey's 30 years of conflict with the PKK

Ünal, Mustafa Coşar

doi:10.1080/14683849.2015.1124020

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Turkey has been at war with the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK) since 1978, with the group calling for the formation of an independent Kurdish state (Beriker‐Atiyas, 1997; Özcan, 2012). Ankara considers the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria part of a broader Kurdish insurgency supporting the outlawed PKK which carries out sporadic attacks in Turkey with support from other Kurdish groups in Iraq and Syria (Parlar Dal, 2016; Ünal, 2016). For years, the presence of the United States in northern Syria and its cooperation with the SDF in fighting the ISIS strained Turkey's ability to attack the group.…”

Section: Justification For Cross‐border Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary conflicts, cross‐border military operations, and the declining role of the UN: The case of Turkey and Saudi Arabia

Nyadera

Kisaka

2020

Digest Mid East Studies

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This article examines an emerging trend of cross‐border conflicts between states and non‐state actors. It looks at the narratives fronted by Turkey and Saudi Arabia to justify their operations in northern Syria and Yemen, respectively. The authors argue that the increased inaction and lack of influence by the UN in response to such operations reaffirm states as the core actors in international politics and that national security and interests continue to shape the behavior of actors at the international level. The article concludes that the UN needs to adjust to the new forms of conflicts, actors, and behavior being experienced at the international level if it is to retain its relevance as an anchor of peace and international security.

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Section: Justification For Cross‐border Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary conflicts, cross‐border military operations, and the declining role of the UN: The case of Turkey and Saudi Arabia

Nyadera

Kisaka

2020

Digest Mid East Studies

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“…The decadeslong PKK insurrection is known to be not only as the bloodiest but also as the longest insurrection in modern Turkish history. Since the outbreak of its campaign, over 50,000 people lost their lives due to PKK violence which has been impacting the Turkish state in the political, social and economic realms [60].…”

Section: The Pkkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Having perceived the costly deadlock and hurting stalemate in 2007, Turkey embraced a conciliatory approach and conducted two short-lived resolution attempts: Kurdish Opening in 2009-2011 and Resolution/Peace Process in 2013-2015 [60]. Once the latest resolution attempt was disappointedly crippled in mid-July 2015, violence returned immediately.…”

Section: The Pkkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deciphering the crime-terror Nexus: an empirical analysis of the structural characteristics of terrorists in Narco-terror networks

Ünal

2019

Crime Law Soc Change

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By using Social Network Analysis (SNA) technique, this study analyzes the structural characteristics of five PKK related narco-terror networks. It examines the roles and positions occupied by PKK members to uncover the nature of the terrorist nexus itself and analyzes structural characteristics to identify these networks' prioritization between security and efficiency. This study finds that terrorists have key roles in narco-terror networks, i.e., leaders, managers, or drug suppliers. They take powerful and central positions in either controlling central hubs (exerting authority) or bridging separate subgroups (acting as a gateway) constituting the core parts of networks. Further, this study finds that despite terrorists' dominating role and positions in control and coordination of information and resources, narco-terror networks reveal more reliance on efficiency than security. In general, these networks tend to be clustered into dense subgroups that are attached to networks' cores, reflecting relatively denser and centralized structures with short average paths. Yet, networks have core(s) whereby key players act predominantly in these cores rather than on peripheries. Notwithstanding the dominance of terrorist members, narco-terror networks seem to focus more on efficiency, and the terrorist nexus in such networks does not appear to make these networks more security-driven. This study asserts that the nature of activity (i.e., crime for material incentive) determines how offenders behave and how covert networks are structured.

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“…After the mid-2000s, the PKK shifted to a more politico-military campaign with creation of the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) in 2007 to conduct social and political activities in concert with its military efforts [72]. In this context, the PKK replicated its initial goal in another form, named by Ocalan as the BDemocratic Autonomy^, demanding above all a federation, a regime change in Turkey, and finally an establishment of a form of self determination known as BConfederation^for Kurds in the southeastern region.…”

Section: Organizational Characteristics-actor Based Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most prominent was the Oslo peace process. This was a series of meetings between the parties of the PKK (including PKK's leadership cadre in Europe and Qandil, which was in touch with Ocalan through his attorney) and state intelligence officials [72]. The Oslo process started loosely in 2007, and accelerated in 2009 (a.k.a the Habur attempt).…”

Section: Organizational Characteristics-actor Based Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terrorism versus insurgency: a conceptual analysis

Ünal

2016

Crime Law Soc Change

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This study analyzes the distinction between terrorism and insurgency by drawing upon the case of the PKK conflict in Turkey. It provides a conceptual discussion through multi-dimensional analyses from the actor-oriented, the actionoriented, the purpose-oriented, and the ontology-oriented perspectives. In so doing, in addition to the organizational characteristics, it critically identifies the PKK's varying strategies of terrorist and insurgent violence, and their temporality and reasoning as the conflict unfolded to make conceptual inferences. This study found, first, that while the PKK as an actor indicates an insurgent character, the PKK's use of violence reflects intense terrorism action particularly after its military defeat. Second, the use of terrorism by the PKK reflects an inextricable overlap in temporality and a direct link with guerilla methods. Despite the PKK's terrorist and insurgent violence resulted from different factors and reasoning at the intermediate level; they are designed to converge at the overall aim of the PKK's political campaign. Third, the PKK violence reflects varying purposes of terrorism, e.g., intimidation, attrition, survival and group solidarity. Fourth, after reaching the tipping point that resulted in its military defeat in 1994, the PKK resorted to more indirect and asymmetrical violence in an increasing tendency to deflect state power and, thus, to coerce Turkey into a political compromise, i.e., a negotiated settlement.

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Is it ripe yet? Resolving Turkey's 30 years of conflict with the PKK

Cited by 30 publications

References 20 publications

Contemporary conflicts, cross‐border military operations, and the declining role of the UN: The case of Turkey and Saudi Arabia

Contemporary conflicts, cross‐border military operations, and the declining role of the UN: The case of Turkey and Saudi Arabia

Deciphering the crime-terror Nexus: an empirical analysis of the structural characteristics of terrorists in Narco-terror networks

Terrorism versus insurgency: a conceptual analysis

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