The Kurdishisrael alliance can redefine the policy of power in the Middle East, challenge Turkish domination

For a century, Turkey systematically denied the Kurds, even the most fundamental democratic rights and autonomy within its borders.

In 2016, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his justice and development party (AKP) qualified the Kurdish Islamic party. He referred to the PKK and his affiliates and the supporters as suitable and Zoroastrians.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), also known as Kongra-Gel, is a Kurdish-Leninist Kurdish-Leninist Group Militant created in 1978 to create a unified independent Kurdistan.

The group aims to take control of the Kurdish regions of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey to advance Kurdish rights and establish a confederation of the Kurdish semi-autonomous regions.

Pkk

The PKK and the groups associated with it have long been looking for more important rights for the Kurds of the turkey, whose language and culture have suppressed since the formation of Turkey after the First World War.

At the beginning of the 20th century, many Kurds began to consider the creation of a homeland, generally called “Kurdistan”. After the Second World War and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Western allies provided for a Kurdish state in the 1920 Treaty in Sevres.

But the hopes were destroyed three years later when the Lausanne Treaty, which set the limits of modern Turkey, made no provision for a Kurdish state and left the Kurds with a minority status in their respective countries. Over the next 80 years, any decision of the Kurds to create an independent state has been brutally canceled.

Reinforce hegemony

Partly fueled by the euphoria of the renewal of Ottoman grandeur and by whipping the rhetoric of Islamic fraternity, President Erdogan tried to regain popularity after the debacle of his party in local elections in April 2024.

He is now taking advantage of the Kurdish question to assert regional hegemony. He released his most powerful negotiation currency – Abdullah Ocalan, founder of the PKK – Language in prison since 1993. Ocalan has been placed behind bars for his call to an independent Kurdistan.

It is interesting to note that the different uses of Erdogan of criteria for identical cases. At the UN and other international platforms, Erdogan defended the armed insurgents of the Indian cashmere, while at home, he locks the fighters of freedom in prisons.

Ocalans U-Tour

PKKS Strong Man Ocalan was under pressure to refrain from asking for any form of political reform, in particular federalism, administrative autonomy or cultural solutions, even in Türkiye, wrote Loqman Radpey in JerusalemJobMarch 9.

The PKK was established in the aim of an independent Kurdistan encompassing all the Kurdish regions in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

Ocalan is now asking PKK to put up their arms and dissolve as a group as part of a new attempt to end a four -decades conflict that won tens of thousands of lives. Why is there a reversal of this policy?

The answer to this question moves the whole story of the Kurd against Erdogan to a new trajectory.

Revisiting the Middle East card

In his presentation before the United Nations General Assembly in September 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu unveiled a revised map of the Middle East highlighting the critical role of the Kurds. He also underlined the Kurdish secular and democratic governance model and the healthy ties between the Jewish people and the Kurds.

In his opinion, the Kurds represent a strategic force in the evolution of the Middle East. In Post-Assad Syria, the structure of power is divided between three major factions: the Syrian National Army (SNA) supported by Turkish (SNA), its ally, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian democratic forces led by Kurdish (SDF).

SDF is the only great democratic and liberal force in Syria alongside the Druze community. The two groups recently declared a military council with which Israel sought to establish links.

What can be deduced from this changing political landscape is that the recent turkeys towards Kurdish disarmament are not motivated by a real desire for peace as the media can suggest.

It is to block the Israeli influence in the region. Ankara is wary that the Kurds can become a central force to reshape the Middle East, which questions Turkish hegemony and the Islamist networks it supports.

The fallout

The benefits of the Erdogan movement on the Kurdish dealer are unpredictable. The reason is the complicated policy of the region.

We cannot underestimate the role of Iran. If, in the context of the recent losses of Hezbollah in the war with Israel and the ignominious departure of Assad from Syria, Iran decides to suppress ethnic minorities, including Iranian Kurds, this could pose a serious challenge to the theory of “Democratic Reconciliation” of Erdogan.

For Ankara, manipulating Kurdish policy by the ocalan instrumentation depends on the condition that he succeeds in weakening the Kurdish forces on the ground.

Conclusion

It remains to be analyzed if the capitulation of the ocalans will be accepted and honored by the entire Kurdish community in the four countries where they have a strong influence.

Second, it is not clear which ankara concessions is ready to offer if the PKK and the affiliates agree to cancel their agitation. At the same time, Kurdish leaders will also reflect on the competence of Israel to practically support the state of Kurdistan to exist against the fatal opposition of Turkey and Iran.

Turkey walks on a stiff rope. Erdogan realized that playing the Islamic emotional card may not help him realize his dream of Ottoman grandeur.

Without a doubt, the attack of October 7 by Hamas has been required to cause changes in the Middle East which would go well the imagination of bodyys. This step has now arrived.

• Professor KN Pandita (Padma Shri) is the former director of the Central Asian Studies Center in KashmirUniversity.
• This article contains the personal opinions of the authors and does not in any way represent the policies / views / opinions of the Eurasian Times.
• The author can be attached to Just ATKNP627 (AT) Gmail.com