Weekly Blog - 25 October 2024 - Turkey Terror Attack

This week’s attack in Ankara by armed Kurdish rebels has shone the spotlight on the long-running conflict between Turkey and the Kurds.  We explore the conflict and possible paths to peace.

 

Turkey terror attack

Six people were killed and dozens injured in Ankara, Turkey, this week, when armed Kurdish rebels staged an attack on an aerospace company.  The gunmen seized a taxi, killed the driver and drove to the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) site.  They detonated an explosive device at the gate then got into the complex, killing five more and wounding dozens, before they were themselves killed by Turkish security forces.  The Turkish authorities blamed the separatist group the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) for the attack.  It is believed TAI was targeted because it manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles which have been used to deadly effect in Turkey’s long-running conflict with the separatist Kurdish group in the south east of the country.  The Turkish government retaliated that same evening, launching airstrikes against 32 PKK sites in neighbouring Iraq and Syria. 

 

Turkey / Kurdish conflict

The PKK have been waging a separatist conflict against Turkey since 1984, in which well over 35,000 people have been killed.  They are seeking an independent nation for the Kurdish people.  The Kurds are an enormous people group of some 30 – 45 million people.  They exist in a broad region across south east Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq and north west Iran.  They are one of the largest people groups in the world without an independent nation state of their own.  Various degrees of autonomy, and movements for independence, exist amongst the Kurdish population in all these countries in this complex and volatile region. 

 

Ending conflict

This latest tragic attack is a reminder of another long-running conflict, where there has been both innocent suffering and injustice perpetrated by both sides.  With our news so flooded with conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon it is easy to forget that there are more than 50 other conflicts, like the one between Turkey and the PKK, continuing around the world.  It is tempting to give up hope.  But we know our God is a god of hope, who abhors all conflict and wants an end to all war.  As he tells us in the Psalms “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34: 14).  Things can get better.  Whilst there has been an upsurge in conflict in the last few years, and the world is currently the most violent it has been since the end of the Cold War, for the vast majority of time since the end of World War 2 the intensity of conflicts has been decreasing dramatically.  This is set out in a major research report from Arise (Arise Manifesto, pg 96 – 99).  With the right policies real change can happen, and conflicts can be reduced and ended.  So what can be done to move towards peace between Turkey and the PKK?

 

Pressure from outside

The international community should apply sustained and intense diplomatic pressure.  They should also loudly and publicly condemn clear instances of human rights abuses and violence.  Targeted economic sanctions in response to specific egregious examples of injustice can be applied, as well as travel bans for leaders accused of particular injustices.  Governments can seize the overseas assets of those who are responsible for violence and human rights abuses.  Above all, they should support moderates, activists and peacebuilders on both sides, in whatever ways they request (Arise Manifesto, pg 119 – 124).  Of course, such methods of providing external pressure to create the right internal conditions for peace will take time for their cumulative pressure to be felt.  Nevertheless, all of the lessons of the Bible and recent history would indicate that it is through the patient, prayerful and persistent application of just such policies that the world can best apply pressure, and begin to move that longed for day of peace ever closer.

 

Peace and reconciliation

The application of such pressure can in the end bring both sides to the negotiating table to discuss their grievances and agree a peaceful way forward.  In this complex cross-border conflict representatives from the Kurdish communities in Syria, Iraq and Iran, and the governments of those countries, need to be involved too.  Third party neutral mediation could be offered to help with all of this.  Both Turkish and Kurdish communities should be given a clear and protected role helping to run the state, with representatives from both working together in the relevant local authorities.  The legitimate demands of minority groups like the Kurds for fair treatment and respect for their traditions, providing they do no harm to others, should be granted.  Hardliners and extremists on all sides should be marginalised.  Those who have had to flee their homes should be allowed to return and their communities rebuilt.  There should also be a process of truth telling and reconciliation, similar to other such processes that have been successful in countries like South Africa and Rwanda.  This means telling the truth about the violence that has been committed; confessing that it was wrong; asking for forgiveness; turning away and rejecting the use of violence in the future; and receiving forgiveness and amnesty from prosecution for those crimes.  As well as running this at a state-wide level, this process of peace and reconciliation should also be carried out at every local level in every affected village and community.  Public information campaigns and corresponding programmes should be taught in schools to stress respect for all communities, and unity between them, to help current and future generations to come together.  These and other similar approaches have been shown to work over and over again in rebuilding communities and nations around the world that have been shattered by violence (Arise Manifesto, pg 89 – 90, 129 – 136).

 

Conclusion

The road to peace may be long and hard in the conflict between Turkey and the PKK, and in the many other conflicts currently raging around the world.  But it is not impossible.  Overwhelmingly, all the evidence from history shows us that peace comes when enough pressure is placed on warring factions to bring them to talks, where a way forward in peace, and ultimately reconciliation, can be negotiated.  As Christians we must continue to be the bearers of hope, never giving up, and keep pressing on with pressure and prayers for peace.  All conflicts ultimately do end.  Breakthrough will come. 

 

Find out more

Arise Manifesto – Find out more about how to reduce and end conflicts around the world in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. 

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