A few weeks before the American elections, Devlet Bahceli, Turkish extremist nationalist, killer of Kurds and junior partner of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, caused shock waves in the National Assembly by shaking hands with members of the Kurdish DEM party, including he had requested closure. so far demanding. A few days later, Bahceli demanded that Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish autonomist PKK, be brought before the National Assembly to proclaim that terrorism had been completely eradicated and that the organization had been dissolved. Since then, Turkish analysts have been trying to understand the thinking behind the Kurdish ploy, as described by a respected former diplomat.
As Erdogan's top priority is always his own political survival, Bahçeli cannot act on his own under any circumstances. Obviously, he acted as a pawn whose action was primarily intended to benefit Erdogan. Currently, the Turkish president is looking for ways to amend the constitution so that he can be a candidate in the 2028 presidential elections. A few days ago, he linked the Kurdish question to this, saying: “We hope to be able to broaden the basis of social consensus on the new constitution. It is possible that the government coalition wants to obtain the support of the DEM for the necessary number of votes in the National Assembly. (At the same time, the government dismissed three mayors supported by this party, accusing them of links to terrorism.)
The amendment to the constitution makes it possible to lower the 50% threshold for forming a coalition government. Bahceli would win. And yet, that might not be enough to explain such a sudden turnaround. In Türkiye, there is growing fear that the Israeli-Iranian conflict will weaken Iran and thus strengthen the position of the Kurds in the four countries where they are distributed. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saars' new statement that his country should work with its natural allies, the Kurds, for political security reasons will have intensified these fears.
With this in mind, some observers believe that this opening mainly targets the Kurds of Syria, because Ankara is doing everything in its power to prevent the adoption of a federal system by the country and has no channel of communication with the Assad government. The unpredictability of the Trump administration will further complicate all of Erdogan's choices. Whatever the reason, conciliation with the Kurds should be an end in itself.
