Reserved optimism emerges to resolve PKK terror problem in Turkey

Kurdish deputies to reveal details of Öcalan meeting on Monday – 4 January 2013 / AYDIN ALBAYRAK/ALI ASLAN KILIÇ, ANKARA, – Zaman – A general sense of cautious optimism has emerged in Turkey in the last couple of days against the background of the government’s recent overtures to broker a deal with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader, Abdullah Öcalan, over ending a conflict that has killed tens of thousands over the past three decades.

While advocates of the government’s move claim that imprisoned Öcalan can play a key role in convincing the PKK to surrender its weapons as part of the solution to the larger Kurdish problem, others criticize it, saying that similar attempts in the past failed precisely because the PKK has no intention of laying down its arms but rather has a vested interest in maintaining a lucrative criminal enterprise and