MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. The newly dissolved Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) stopped helping Turkey’s Kurdish politicians a long time ago, Grigory Lukyanov, a Research Fellow at the Center of Arab and Islamic Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS.
Although the status of Kurds within Turkish politics remains a contentious issue, Lukyanov believes it’s clear that military and political means will no longer be able to change that situation. "On the contrary, the preservation of the military component of the PKK only strengthens the nationalist camp on different sides of the Turkish political divide," he added.
"In this regard, Kurdish politicians who are part of Turkey’s legitimate political system have long stopped seeing the PKK as an effective vehicle for advancing Kurdish interests. Instead, it has become a liability - one that nationalists use to securitize the Kurdish issue and obstruct its resolution within Turkish society and the state," the expert believes. In his opinion, both the PKK’s influence and the perception of it as a protector of Kurdish interests have diminished significantly among Kurds themselves.
According to Lukyanov, this is also relevant in terms of the work of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which since the 2000s has been trying hard to win over Kurdish voters, contrasting nationalist rhetoric with unifying messages. "In this vein, the AKP managed to achieve certain successes in the 2000s and it continues to make gains now. Amid the rather disappointing results of the municipal elections for the AKP and the mass protests against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor [Ekrem] Imamoglu, the Justice and Development Party is actively working to 'rehabilitate' itself in the next elections, and for this they will need the Kurdish electorate," he added.
New opportunities
Therefore, according to the expert, Kurdish politicians now have a chance to turn over a new leaf, and that will start with withdrawing support for the PKK’s military-minded approach. "The PKK's projects in Iraq and Syria have failed to gain ground. At first, they were actually displaced in Iraq by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Under current circumstances, after the fall of Bashar Assad's regime in Syria and the ongoing integration of Syrian Kurds into the country’s new political order, the PKK no longer has the resources or influence to maintain a foothold there," he added.
Lukyanov also noted that the weakening of the PKK is "a direct consequence of Turkey's effective policy and the formation of objective circumstances that have made continuing its armed struggle inside and outside Turkey untenable."
The expert also drew attention to the fact that the self-dissolution of the organization does not mean that the group or its members will be allowed to take part in the country’s politics under its old banner. "Especially since the PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization in Turkey, which is unlikely to change, as that would mean a revision of the state's attitude towards armed violence as a tool of political struggle. So this is a no-go," the expert pointed out.
In Lukyanov's opinion, the issue now is the participation of Kurdish politicians and figures, including those associated with the moderate wing of the PKK, in the political process under the auspices of other political parties, including newly established ones. According to the specialist, this concerns "a wide layer of Kurdish politicians and public figures, for whom, perhaps, new paths in Turkish politics are opening up, both at the municipal and republican levels."
PKK’s self-dissolution
Earlier, the PKK held a congress and decided to dissolve itself and end its armed struggle after 47 years of confrontation with Turkey. The congress communique stated that the party will henceforth turn to democratic and political methods of struggle. In addition, according to the Kurdish Rudaw TV channel, the party congress also asked the Turkish authorities to provide jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan with legal and political guarantees to help him facilitate the party's smooth transition under this new paradigm.