Amberin Zaman
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
It's an extremely important announcement, first of all, because it came so quickly. It responded instantly and unequivocally, saying that they would go along with Öcalan's call and But they set conditions for this. So the ball is now very much in Turkey's court. Turkey has to secure. this environment so they can be sure that they won't be attacked.
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
This is almost like a personality cult. that's developed over the years. He's an extremely charismatic and authoritarian figure who cast a spell over his followers. When he was captured, you had people actually setting themselves on fire. They were so upset. The PKK itself has determinedly
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
cultivated, sustained this myth around Erdogan as the absolute leader of the movement, because this is the glue that's allowed them to keep things together.
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
Erdogan needs Kurdish support because under the constitution, he cannot run for a third time. The elections are due in 2028 and he'd like to make constitutional changes immediately. that would allow him to run. And for that, he needs Kurdish support. So he's reached out to the Kurds again, but he's not in the picture per se. Erdogan is kind of being very clever about this. If things go south,
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
he can easily say, well, I had nothing to do with it.
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
Turkish public opinion may not be fully in favour of these negotiations. And we're talking about a time when The economy is really in very bad shape. The country is deeply polarized. And that's really also because the government has encouraged this polarization, criminalizing the Kurdish movement.
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
Syria is very closely bound up with the PKK because when the PKK began its fight against In fact, its leaders, including Erdogan, fled to Syria in the late 70s. And so that's where they were operating. People reckon that up to a third of their fighters are Syrian because the Syrian Kurds chose not to fight the Assad regime and instead to consolidate their autonomy.
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
Now, Turkey views that entity as an existential threat. It has since 2016 been attacking Turkey. Syrian Kurdish forces there, who, by the way, are the United States' top ally in the fight against the Islamic State. And the fact that the U.S. is partnered with them has kind of really blown a huge hole in the Turkish-U.S. relationship.
Global News Podcast
Warm welcome for President Zelensky in London
A big question now is whether Turkey will continue to attack those forces or not, and whether Öcalan's call extends to those forces or not.