After six months, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) today announced it was ending a unilateral ceasefire that had succeeded to keep things fairly quiet along Turkey's eastern borders and in the predominantly-Kurdish southeast. As a Hurriyet Daily News report puts it, the PKK actually just "downgraded" its ceasefire, saying it would “defend itself more effectively” but refrain from attacks. The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, has a bit more on the ending of the ceasefire, here.
The end of the ceasefire could be connected to the possible failure of a dialogue that had been initiated between the Turkish government and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. It could also have something to do with the upcoming Turkish elections, set to be held this summer, and the PKK's wish to once again bring the Kurdish issue back on to the national agenda.
Perhaps the biggest question to come out of the announcement is what does it mean for the government's ongoing, but troubled, "Kurdish opening," a reform initiative announced last summer? If serious fighting between the PKK and Turkish forces resumes, the already slowly closing "opening" could find itself truly shut.
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