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The Kurdish Peace Process and Presidential Elections in Turkey

Bulent Aras

The August 10, 2014, presidential election in Turkey marks the first time voters will be able to directly elect their president. Current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has held power since 2002, is one of several candidates. Many factors will shape the outcome of the elections: domestic problems such as the economy, infrastructure, and corruption, as well as external issues, such as energy transit and the crisis in Syria. In this policy brief, Global Europe Program Global Fellow Bülent Aras, along with Yasin Duman, explores one of the most important factors: the “Kurdish Question.” Will the new president continue Erdoğan’s work of moving towards a resolution to the protracted conflict? What would such a resolution entail?

The Kurdish Peace Process and Presidential Elections in Turkey

The August 10, 2014, presidential election in Turkey marks the first time voters will be able to directly elect their president. Current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has held power since 2002, is one of several candidates. Many factors will shape the outcome of the elections: domestic problems such as the economy, infrastructure, and corruption, as well as external issues, such as energy transit and the crisis in Syria.

In this policy brief, Global Europe Program Global Fellow Bülent Aras, along with Yasin Duman, explores one of the most important factors: the “Kurdish Question.” Will the new president continue Erdoğan’s work of moving towards a resolution to the protracted conflict? What would such a resolution entail? The authors note: “The notion of peace rarely has the same meaning to the conflicting parties. It changes according to their needs, expectations and positions, etc. This notion becomes more complex when there are also ethnic, political, ideological, and economic issues involved in the conflict.” Ongoing negotiations came to a standstill in 2013 over internal divisions, but progress could be made following the elections. Ultimately, “if successful, the forerunners of the peace process could write a new narrative for Turkey – one marked by peace for the country and its proud peoples, and with the potential for considerable positive spillover and impact throughout the region.”

The full text of “The Kurdish Peace Process and Presidential Elections in Turkey” can be read below.

About the Author

Bulent Aras

Bulent Aras

Global Fellow;
Professor of International Relations, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Sabancı University, Istanbul, Turkey
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Global Europe Program

The Global Europe Program addresses vital issues affecting the European continent, US-European relations, and Europe’s ties with the rest of the world. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues: digital transformation, climate, migration, global governance. We also examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our program activities cover a wide range of topics, from the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE to European energy security, trade disputes, challenges to democracy, and counter-terrorism. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media.  Read more