The Peace Process between Turkey and the Kurds: Anatomy of a Failure

91 Pages·2017·0.51 MB·English

by  Burak Bilgehan Özpek

The Peace Process between
Turkey and the Kurds
I n January 2013, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government
initiated a peace process in order to settle the Kurdish question through
peaceful means. However, this sanguine atmosphere gradually disappeared,
before finally collapsing after the general elections of 7 June 2015.
T his book addresses the question of why the peace building attempts
that culminated between 2013 and 2015 failed. It deals with the historical
background of the Kurdish question and contemporary complexities of
the Turkish politics to explain how they eventually jeopardized the peace
process. This is an important and relevant research question because the
Kurdish question has been viewed as a variable shaping Turkey’s domestic
politics and its foreign relations. The Kurdish question’s influence on Turkish
foreign policy is not confined to its neighbors. Turkey’s relations with the
United States and the European Union was also shaped by the issues
stemmed from the Kurdish question. As this was the first serious peace
attempt in a conflict that lasted over three decades, examination of why it
failed will inform any future attempts at peace and will help pinpoint the
potential path that Turkey might face in both the domestic and international
realm.
This book will appeal to students and scholars with an interest in Turkey
and the Kurdish issue, peacekeeping, security studies and Middle East
Politics.
Burak Bilgehan Özpek is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Political Science and International Relations at TOBB University of
Economics and Technology, Ankara.
Routledge Focus on the Middle East
1 Presidentialism in Turkey
Instability and Change
Serap Gur
2 The Peace Process between Turkey and the Kurds
Anatomy of a Failure
Burak Bilgehan Özpek
The Peace Process between
Turkey and the Kurds
Anatomy of a Failure
Burak Bilgehan Özpek
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Burak Bilgehan Özpek
The right of Burak Bilgehan Özpek to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Özpek, Burak, author.
Title: The peace process between Turkey and the Kurds : anatomy
of a failure / Burak Özpek.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :
Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge focus on the Middle East ; 2 |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017043014 | ISBN 9781138564107 (hbk) |
ISBN 9781315122182 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Kurds—Turkey—Politics and government. |
Kurds—Politics and government. | Turkey—Politics and
government. | AK Parti (Turkey)
Classification: LCC DR435.K87 O965 2018 | DDC 323.1191/
5970561—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017043014
ISBN: 978-1-138-56410-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-12218-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To Melike

Contents
List of tables viii
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1 Was the peace process a deviation? 7
2 Conceptualization of the peace process 21
3 Why did the peace process fail? 37
4 The year after the “peace process” 53
5 Conclusion 59
Appendix: Chronology of the peace process 61
Index 79
Tables
2.1 Annual deaths during the armed conflict between
Turkey and PKK 27
3.1 Turkey’s democratization performance, 2002–2016 42
4.1 National election results, 7 June 2015 54
4.2 National election results, 1 November 2015 55
Acknowledgements
This book developed out of a newspaper article entitled “Deconfliction or
Peace?” that I wrote for T araf in May 2013. It was published during the
heyday of the “peace process” and attracted almost no intellectual attention.
Furthermore, I was criticized for being overly pessimistic about the inten-
tions of the government and the PKK. Nevertheless, Nil Satana encouraged
me to study this issue comprehensively and prepare an academic book. I
wish to thank Nil Satana for her support along the way. I am also indebted to
Bill Park, who accepted me to King’s College Defence Studies Department
as a post-doctoral researcher and served as my supervisor.
I am particularly thankful to İhsan Sezal, the Dean of Faculty of Eco-
nomics and Administrative Sciences at TOBB University of Economics and
Technology. His comments and recommendations helped me to complete
this manuscript. I am also indebted to my research assistant Çağrı Pehlivanlı
for his never-ending energy and technical assistance.
I owe my deepest gratitude to my family. My parents, Eralp and Sevda,
have always supported me. When I feel exhausted I have been motivated
by my brother, Miraç Kültigin, his wife, Selin, and their son Kağan Kartal.
Finally, Melike has always been a perfect companion. Without her support,
this study would not have been completed.
Ankara / 2017