Ankara Warns Against Kurdish Autonomy in Syria
While the Kurdistan Democratic Union (PYD) takes control of Syrian territory close to the Turkish border, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warns Kurds against declaring an autonomous Kurdistan.
Until Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan was put to trial before a Turkish judge in 1999, it was perceived that the whole point in this more than three-decade-long war with the Turkish state — which cost more than 30,000 dead — was all for establishing an independent Kurdistan taking land from Turkey.
When Ocalan said during the hearings that he had been fighting for cultural and linguistic rights, it came as a surprise. Many wondered whether it would be really possible to persuade Kurdish men and women to go up into the mountains for reasons other than seeking independence.
