Turkey and the Kurds: The Blood-Stained Path to Peace

German Marshall Fund of the United States, January 15, 2013, 3 p.

Amberin Zaman *

Last week’s murder of three female activists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the heart of Paris has added a dramatic new twist to Turkey’s efforts to end the 28-year-long Kurdish conflict. As French police continue their investigation into the slayings, speculation about who was behind them continues with no clear answers in sight. This policy brief offers some suggestions for who the masterminds may be and their motives.

* Amberin Zaman is the Istanbul-based Turkey correspondent of the U.K. weekly The Economist. Zaman, who is Turkish, also writes a column twice a week for the mass circulation Turkish daily Haberturk.

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