Kurdish War: September 4, 2003

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The Kurd rebel PKK/KADEK issued a statement that said for the next three months it intends to try to reach a true bilateral ceasefire with Turkey. This is an interesting twist following the PKKs decision to end its four-year unilateral ceasefire with Turkey. A PKK spokesman said the organization preferred democratic struggle and was not after a war process. Other reports and analyses since the PKK ended its ceasefire indicate that it is difficult for the organization to escalate beyond the flickering level of guerrilla war still occurring in southeastern Turkey. Kurds in Turkey have a long list of legitimate political and cultural grievances. The PKKs original Marxist orientation certainly did not help promote solutions to those grievances. Turkey, of course, tries to paint all Kurd militants as terrorists, which is much too broad of a brush. The latest PKK statement indicates the ceasefire withdrawal was primarily a political signal.


 

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