The Kurdish Question

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In the international mass media the escalation of fighting in the Kurdish region in Turkey has been in the shadow of the Syrian crisis. June 2011 parliamentary elections were held in Turkey. People hoped that the elections would contribute to a peaceful solution in the Kurdish conflict. But things turned to opposite direction. The post-election year has been the bloodiest in Turkey since the capture of Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK’s leader Abdullah Öcalan in 1999. According to International Crisis Group, in the fighting in southeastern Turkey has died since the 2011 elections more than 700 people: about 400 PKK guerrillas, more than 200 Turkish soldiers and at least 84 civilians. In recent weeks, the situation has become even worse: on average ten soldiers die in a week. According to PKK sources, the number of deaths during the last two years has been two thousand people. In 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed to be ready to seek a political solution to the Kurdish question. He spoke about this during his visit in Kurdish region's largest city Diyarbakir. In the spring 2009 there were rumors that the Turkish government and the PKK representatives have informal contacts with target to start peace negotiations. Bianet news agency (which is considered to be a reliable source) referred to this in May 2009. In spring 2009 journalist Hasan Cemal of Millyet newspaper (big Turkish newspaper) interviewed PKK leader Murat Karayilan. He stated that PKK does not require constitutional amendments before the letting down weapons. Sources near to PKK said last July that Abdullah Ocalan was also involved in the informal contacts with the Turkish authorities until the 2011 elections.  According to International Crisis Group, there is danger that Turkey will move towards a brutal anti-terrorism war. Hardening line in the Turkish side would strengthen hardliners also inside PKK - even though the organization shows in public united opinions, it is clear that behind the scenes there is a range of views, harder and softer ones. In the autonomy of the Syrian Kurds there is not now any big news to report. The Syrian Kurds proclaimed their territory autonomous in July this year. The Iraqi Kurds, the Kurds in the South, have had autonomy since 1991. Autonomy is also the aim of the Kurds in Turkey, as the co-existence with the Turks does not seem to succeed. Now, in eastern Kurdistan, or the Iranian part of Kurdistan, discussion on autonomy has also started.
Kurds in Turkey ,Iraq,  Iran and Syria want their own country, it's that simple.