Turkey-Russia spat is a symptom of different, often incompatible agendas.
Beset by domestic and regional crises, Turkey has adopted a defensive posture where dialogue would be preferable.
Syrian Kurds have won a strategic victory in Tel Abyad, uniting two of their self-run cantons and putting ISIS on the back foot.
With its stance on Kobane, Ankara is in danger of undoing advances in the Kurdish peace process. It must act boldly now to set things back on course.
Could Kurdish voices become part of the political mainstream in Turkey; and could the PKK have its status as “terrorist” removed?
Turkey’s political landscape may be shifting in the wake of the Gezi protests, but the Kurdish peace process is flagging and distrust lingers between Turkish and Kurdish camps
For close on a millennium Azeris and Armenians co-existed reasonably peaceably. At the end of the Soviet period tensions erupted and they have been bubbling ever since. No need, thinks William Gourlay, because they are actually quite similar. Is it just a case of ‘must try harder’?
The military approach, sole government policy since the 1980s, has failed. Hawkish voices are no longer able to dominate discussion and portray the Kurdish question solely as a security issue. Can a solution best be found through democratic means?
