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Efforts to End Kurdish Militant Conflict in Türkiye Face Syria Test

Türkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) officials Pervin Buldan, Ahmet Turk and Sirri Sureyya Onder, stand for a picture flanked by other Republican People's Party officials, as they meet at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Türkiye, January 7, 2025. Dogusan Ozer/Republican People's Party/Handout via REUTERS
Türkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) officials Pervin Buldan, Ahmet Turk and Sirri Sureyya Onder, stand for a picture flanked by other Republican People's Party officials, as they meet at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Türkiye, January 7, 2025. Dogusan Ozer/Republican People's Party/Handout via REUTERS
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Efforts to End Kurdish Militant Conflict in Türkiye Face Syria Test

Türkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) officials Pervin Buldan, Ahmet Turk and Sirri Sureyya Onder, stand for a picture flanked by other Republican People's Party officials, as they meet at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Türkiye, January 7, 2025. Dogusan Ozer/Republican People's Party/Handout via REUTERS
Türkiye's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) officials Pervin Buldan, Ahmet Turk and Sirri Sureyya Onder, stand for a picture flanked by other Republican People's Party officials, as they meet at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Türkiye, January 7, 2025. Dogusan Ozer/Republican People's Party/Handout via REUTERS

Talks aimed at ending a 40-year-old militant conflict have fostered peace hopes in Türkiye but the precarious situation of Kurdish forces in Syria and uncertainty about Ankara's intentions have left many Kurds anxious about the path ahead.
Abdullah Ocalan, jailed head of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, has been cited as indicating a willingness to call on the PKK to lay down arms in a peace process to end the insurgency he launched against NATO-member Türkiye in 1984.
The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, stunted development in the mainly Kurdish southeast and caused deep political divisions.
Türkiye's pro-Kurdish DEM Party met Ocalan in late December and has since held talks with other parties including President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party (AKP), to discuss Ocalan's proposal, with both sides describing the talks as "positive". Two DEM sources told Reuters the party is now set to visit Ocalan again as soon as Jan. 15 in his prison on northwest Türkiye's Imrali island, where the 75-year-old has been held since 1999. They expect that meeting to yield a concrete plan for peace talks.
"We expect the process to take shape and a clear roadmap to be determined to establish the legal framework in the second meeting with Ocalan," DEM Party parliamentary group deputy chair Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit told Reuters. DEM is the third-largest party in parliament.
It was unclear what Ocalan would seek in any deal but DEM quoted him as referring to efforts for a "democratic transformation" in Türkiye. Kurds have long sought more political and cultural rights, and economic support. DEM also demands Ocalan's release. The dynamics of any peace process have been transformed by the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, leaving Syrian Kurdish forces on the back foot with Türkiye-backed forces ranged against them and the new rulers in Damascus friendly with Ankara. Türkiye has warned it could mount a cross-border military offensive into northern Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia unless they disband. It says they are terrorists and part of the PKK but they are also allied with the United States in the fight against ISIS, complicating the issue further.
For now it is unclear how the fall of Assad could affect the prospects of the PKK laying down arms. A leading PKK figure indicated in an interview this week that the group supported Ocalan's efforts but did not comment on the disarmament issue. The leader of the Syrian Kurdish forces has proposed that foreign fighters, including from the PKK, would leave Syria as part of a deal with Türkiye to avoid further conflict in the country.
"POINTING GUNS AND TALKING PEACE"
Kocyigit said that managing a peace process in Türkiye against this background was the biggest test for Ankara.
"You cannot point guns at the Kurds in (Syria's) Kobani and talk about peace in Türkiye," she said. "The Kurdish issue is a complex issue. It should be addressed not only with Türkiye's internal dynamics but also with its international dimensions."
Türkiye should accept that Kurds have a say in the future of Syria, she added.
Ankara has said little about the talks with Ocalan, launched after a proposal by Erdogan's main ally in October, but a major AKP figure spoke optimistically after meeting a DEM delegation.
"We see everyone's good-willed effort to contribute to the process," AKP's Abdullah Guler said on Tuesday, adding the goal was to resolve the issue this year. "The process ahead will lead to completely different developments that we never expected."
He did not specify what these developments were, but another AKP MP said a climate for the PKK to lay down arms may be in place by February. Asked if there could be an amnesty for PKK members, Guler said a general amnesty was not on the agenda.
The leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party, Ozgur Ozel, said a parliamentary commission should be set up with all parties to address the problems faced by Kurds.
In the southeast, Kurds are skeptical about peace prospects after past failures. That uncertainty is reflected in opinion surveys. A recent SAMER poll of some 1,400 people, conducted in the southeast and major Turkish cities, showed that only 27% of respondents expected the original call for Ocalan to end the conflict to evolve into a peace process.
The last peace talks collapsed in 2015, triggering a surge in violence and a crackdown on pro-Kurdish party members. Guler said the current process would in no way resemble those talks a decade ago, saying the situation had changed.
ERDOGAN'S STANCE IS CRUCIAL
Key to boosting confidence in the peace process would be an expression of support from Erdogan, according to DEM's Kocyigit.
"His direct confirmation that he is involved in the process would make a world of difference. If he openly expresses this support, social support would increase rapidly," she said.
Erdogan has so far kept up his hardline rhetoric against the PKK, saying after a cabinet meeting this week that "those who choose violence will be buried with their weapons" and repeating his oft-used warning of military action against Syrian Kurdish forces: "We may come suddenly one night".
Erdogan said he believed that "ultimately brotherhood, unity, togetherness and peace will win" while warning that if this path is blocked, "we will not hesitate to use the iron fist of our state wrapped in a velvet glove."
The importance of Erdogan's comments was also stressed by Yuksel Genc, coordinator of the Diyarbakir-based pollster SAMER.
"The harsh rhetoric of Erdogan and his circle is preventing a revival of feelings of trust in the new process (among Kurds) on the street," she said, noting concerns among many Kurds about what would happen to Kurds in Syria. Domestically, Ankara has signaled a will to deal with the Kurdish issue, unveiling last month a $14 billion development plan aimed at reducing the economic gap between the southeast and the rest of Türkiye.
An end to conflict would be widely welcomed across Türkiye, but the government faces a balancing act given the widespread enmity among most Turks towards Ocalan and the PKK after four decades of bloodshed, with many opposing peace talks.
"I definitely do not support it. I am not in favor of such bargaining or talks. I consider this as a disrespect to our martyrs and their families," Mehmet Naci Armagan, who works in the tourism sector, said in Istanbul.

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Syrians Left in the Dark as the Interim Government Struggles to Restore Electricity 

Lights illuminate a few windows of a damaged building in Damascus, Syria, early Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
Lights illuminate a few windows of a damaged building in Damascus, Syria, early Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
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Syrians Left in the Dark as the Interim Government Struggles to Restore Electricity 

Lights illuminate a few windows of a damaged building in Damascus, Syria, early Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
Lights illuminate a few windows of a damaged building in Damascus, Syria, early Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)

Rana Al-Ahmad opens her fridge after breaking fast at sundown with her husband and four children during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Apart from eggs, potatoes and some bread, it’s empty because state electricity in Syria only comes two hours a day.

“We can’t leave our food in the fridge because it will spoil,” she said.

Her husband, a taxi driver in Damascus, is struggling to make ends meet, so the family can’t afford to install a solar panel in their two-room apartment in Jaramana on the outskirts of the capital.

Months after a lightning insurgency ended over half a century of the Assad dynasty’s rule in Syria, the interim government has been struggling to fix battered infrastructure after a 14-year conflict decimated much of the country. Severe electricity shortages continue to plague the war-torn country.

The United Nations estimates that 90% of Syrians live in poverty and the Syrian government has only been able to provide about two hours of electricity every day. Millions of Syrians, like Al-Ahmad and her family, can’t afford to pay hefty fees for private generator services or install solar panels.

Syria's new authorities under interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa have tried to ease the country's electricity crisis, but have been unable to stop the outages with patchwork solutions.

Even with a recent gas deal with Qatar and an agreement with Kurdish-led authorities that will give them access to Syria's oil fields, the country spends most of its days with virtually no power. Reports of oil shipments coming from Russia, a key military and political ally of Assad, shows the desperation.

Pitch black

At Al-Ahmad’s home, she and her husband were only able to get a small battery that could power some lights.

“The battery we have is small and its charge runs out quickly,” said Al-Ahmad, 37. It’s just enough that her children can huddle in the living room to finish their homework after school.

And the family is not alone. Everywhere in Syria, from Damascus to Daraa in the south, neighborhoods turn pitch black once the sun sets, lit only from street lamps, mosque minarets and car headlights.

The downfall of Assad in December brought rare hope to Syrians. But the new interim authorities have scrambled to establish control across the country and convince Western nations to lift economic sanctions to make its economy viable again.

The United States in January eased some restrictions for six months, authorizing some energy-related transactions. But it doesn’t appear to have made a significant difference on the ground just yet.

Battered and bruised fields

Washington and other Western governments face a delicate balance with Syria’s new authorities, and appear to be keen on lifting restrictions only if the war-torn country’s political transition is democratic and inclusive of Syrian civil society, women and minorities.

Fixing Syria’s damaged power plants and oil fields takes time, so Damascus is racing to get as much fuel as it can to produce more energy.

Damascus is now looking towards the northeastern provinces, where its oil fields under Kurdish-led authorities are to boost its capacity, especially after reaching a landmark ceasefire deal with them.

Political economist Karam Shaar said 85% of the country’s oil production is based in those areas, and Syria once exported crude oil in exchange for refined oil to boost local production, though the fields are battered and bruised from years of conflict.

These crucial oil fields fell into the hands of the extremist ISIS group, which held large swaths of Syria and Iraq from 2014 to 2017.

“It’s during that period where much of the damage to the (oil) sector happened,” said Shaar, highlighting intense airstrikes and fighting against the group by a US-led international coalition.

After ISIS fell, the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took control of key fields, leaving them away from the central government in Damascus. The new authorities hope to resolve this in a landmark deal with the SDF signed earlier this month.

Kamran Omar, who oversees oil production in the Rmeilan oil fields in the northeastern city of Hassakeh, says shortages in equipment and supplies and clashes that persisted with Türkiye and Turkish-backed forces have slowed down production, but told the AP that some of that production will eventually go to households and factories in other parts of Syria.

The fields only produce a fraction of what they once did. The Rmeilan field sends just 15,000 of the approximately 100,000 barrels they produce to other parts of Syria to ease some of the burden on the state.

The authorities in Damascus also hope that a recent deal with Qatar that would supply them with gas through Jordan to a major plant south of the capital will be the first of more agreements.

The cornerstone of recovery

Syria's authorities have not acknowledged reports of Russia sending oil shipments to the country. Moscow once aided Assad in the conflict against the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that toppled the former president, but this shows that they are willing to stock up on fuel from whoever is offering.

Interim Electricity Minister Omar Shaqrouq admitted in a news conference that bringing back electricity to Syrian homes 24 hours a day is not on the horizon.

“It will soon be four hours, but maybe some more in the coming days.”

Increasing that supply will be critical for the battered country, which hopes to ease the economic woes of millions and bring about calm and stability. Shaar, who has visited and met with Syria’s new authorities, says that the focus on trying to bring fuel in the absence of funding for major infrastructural overhauls is the best Damascus can do given how critical the situation is.

“Electricity is the cornerstone of economic recovery,” said Shaar. “Without electricity you can’t have a productive sector, (or any) meaningful industries.”