The Christian Science Monitor quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Aaron Stein on the political motivations of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s targeting of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK):
“Erdogan and the AKP have lost the support of Turkey’s religious Kurds, prompting a political campaign to court the nationalist right,” says Aaron Stein, a Turkey expert with the Atlantic Council, in a recent analysis. “These voters reject compromise with Turkey’s Kurdish political movement and remain skeptical of Erdogan due to his previous support for the peace process. Thus, Erdogan has a political incentive to continue targeting the PKK to demonstrate his anti-Kurdish nationalist bona fides, despite rising casualty figures and violence in the southeast.”