Announced last summer, the Turkish government's "democratic opening" was a commendable move towards solving the decades-old Kurdish problem through increased democratization and political reforms (take a look at this Eurasianet article from the time). Less than a year later, the initiative (sometimes also called the "Kurdish opening") appears to have ground to a halt, at least on the political front.
The latest setback for the effort appears to be the arrest Thursday of ten members of a group of 34 Kurds -- among them several former PKK members -- who returned to Turkey last October after spending several years in exile in Northern Iraq. The group's return was one of the first and most visible efforts in the government's Kurdish initiative and was supposed to be followed by the return of other groups. But the heros' welcome given to the group and the suggestion that they returned at the order of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan appeared to be too costly for the government in domestic terms and the plans for further returns were put on indefinite hold. Since then, every member of the group of the original returnees (save for four minors who accompanied them) has been charged with speaking in support of a terrorist organization (the PKK) after coming back to Turkey and are currently standing trial.
You can read more about their cases here.
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