Erdoğan’s Kurdish policy isn’t about the Istanbul elections – it’s about the Syrian thorn in his side

By propitiating the Kurds, Erdoğan could destine the new elections in Istanbul in his favour, some people think. It is assumed that this is why he ended the confinement in isolation of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. But if that’s the case, why then did he simultaneously start an offensive against PKK fighters in the north of Iraq?

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The Dutch version was published at the site of magazine Vrij Nederland. Read it without paywall here!