Forty Years of Fire and Blood: Why Turkey’s Peace Process Is a Kurdish Political Victory
- Daniel R
- 8 hours ago
- 5 min read
For more than forty years, the Kurdish question in Turkey was treated as a problem to be crushed. Today, the renewed peace process shows something different: identity, memory and political will cannot be erased by force.
This article looks at why many Kurds view the transition from armed struggle to democratic politics not as a surrender, but as a historic political victory born from decades of endurance.
Key Context
• The modern armed phase of the conflict began in 1984, when the PKK launched its insurgency against the Turkish state.
• Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned since 1999 and remains a central figure in the Kurdish movement.
• In February 2025, Öcalan called for the PKK to lay down arms and move the struggle into democratic politics.
• The future of the process depends on legal reforms, political freedoms, cultural rights and whether Ankara addresses the roots of the Kurdish question.
A Conflict That Could Not Be Erased
For more than four decades, the mountains of Kurdistan have carried the weight of one of the Middle East’s longest and most painful conflicts. Since 1984, Kurdish society has lived through war, repression, displacement, imprisonment and the constant denial of its identity.
Villages were emptied. Kurdish language and culture were suppressed. Political leaders were jailed. Families were torn apart by a conflict that shaped generations.
No honest account of this history can romanticise war. Too many lives were lost. But no honest account can ignore the deeper truth either: the Kurdish question did not disappear. It survived every campaign designed to erase it.
Why This Peace Process Matters
For years, the Turkish state believed the Kurdish issue could be solved by force. It treated a political and national question as a security problem, pouring money, soldiers, intelligence networks, cross-border operations and emergency powers into the attempt to crush Kurdish resistance.
The language was always the same: defeat, eliminate, neutralise, finish. Yet after forty years, the question remains. Kurdish identity remains. Kurdish politics remains. The demand for dignity remains.
A people who survive denial have already won something no state can take from them.
From Armed Struggle to Democratic Politics
The armed conflict created a painful stalemate. Turkey could inflict enormous damage, but it could not produce a final victory. The PKK could continue resisting, but the cost of endless war became unbearable for Kurdish society too.
After decades of fire and blood, both sides were forced to confront the same reality: there is no military solution to the Kurdish question. That reality is the foundation of the current process.
The turning point came in February 2025, when Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned since 1999, called for the PKK to lay down arms, dissolve itself and move the struggle fully into the democratic political arena. Whatever one thinks of Öcalan, his statement marked a historic shift.
It was not simply a call to end an organisation. It was a call to transform the method of struggle — from armed confrontation to democratic negotiation, legal reform and political participation.
Why Many Kurds See This as a Victory
The PKK responded by declaring a ceasefire and later, after its congress in May 2025, announced the end of its armed campaign and the dissolution of its organisational structure. The movement stated that its historical mission had reached a new stage and that the Kurdish issue should now be resolved through democratic politics.
For many Kurds, this was not seen as surrender. It was seen as a transition. That distinction matters.
A surrender happens when a people are broken. A transition happens when a struggle changes form because it has forced the world around it to change.
The Kurdish movement was not militarily erased. It was not crushed into silence. Instead, after forty years, Turkey is now being pushed to address the Kurdish question through parliament, law, reintegration, political reform and public negotiation.
Hope, Danger and the Need for Guarantees
For the Kurdish people, this process carries both hope and danger. The hope is obvious. A genuine peace could open the door to mother-tongue education, stronger cultural rights, democratic reforms, fairer political participation and the release or reintegration of people whose lives were consumed by the conflict.
It could allow Kurdish politics to breathe without the constant threat of bans, prosecutions and emergency measures. It could give a new generation the chance to fight for their future through words, elections, institutions and civil society rather than through mountains, prisons and graves.
But the danger is also real. Kurds have seen peace processes before. They have seen promises made and then broken. They have seen negotiations collapse, cities destroyed, elected mayors removed and political parties criminalised.
A peace process without legal guarantees is only a pause. A peace process without cultural rights is only a performance. A peace process without freedom of expression, fair political competition and respect for Kurdish identity cannot bring lasting peace.
What Ankara Must Do Next
If Ankara truly wants peace, it must do more than demand disarmament. It must address the roots of the conflict. It must recognise that the Kurdish issue cannot be solved by asking Kurds to be quiet.
Peace requires democratic reforms, legal protections, cultural rights and an end to the reflex of treating Kurdish political expression as a threat to the state. The Kurdish people are not asking for charity. They are asking for dignity, equality and recognition.
The peace process also has a wider regional meaning. Kurdish communities across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran are watching closely. A serious peace could reduce regional tensions and create space for Kurdish democratic life. A failed process could deepen distrust for another generation.
The Historical Meaning
For forty years, the Turkish state tried to prove that force could end the Kurdish question. It failed. For forty years, Kurds were told that their identity was a problem, their language was dangerous, their politics was illegitimate and their demands were impossible.
Yet the Kurdish people endured. They built parties, movements, media, culture, literature, music, memory and resistance. They refused to disappear.
The greatest Kurdish victory is not that Turkey has been defeated in the simple language of war. The greater victory is that Turkey has been forced to face the reality it denied for so long: there can be no stable future without the Kurds.
This is the true meaning of the transition from armed struggle to democratic politics. It is not the end of the Kurdish cause. It is the beginning of a new phase. The battlefield is changing. The struggle is moving into parliament, law, culture, education, local democracy and international opinion.
Conclusion
The Kurdish people paid an immense price to reach this moment. The graves, the prisons, the destroyed villages, the exiles and the memories cannot be erased. But if this peace process leads to real rights, real reforms and a democratic future, then those sacrifices will not have been in vain.
Turkey’s peace process is not a favour handed down to the Kurds. It is the result of Kurdish steadfastness. It is the result of a people refusing to vanish. It is the result of a state finally understanding that the Kurdish question cannot be bombed, banned or buried out of existence.
After forty years of fire and blood, the struggle has entered a new arena. And that, in itself, is a Kurdish political victory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Turkey’s peace process important for Kurds?
Because it shows that the Kurdish question cannot be solved only through military force. Lasting peace requires political recognition, legal reform and respect for Kurdish identity.
Does the peace process mean the Kurdish struggle is over?
No. It means the struggle has entered a different phase, focused on rights, recognition, cultural freedom, democratic politics and legal guarantees.
Why do many Kurds see the process as a victory?
Many Kurds see it as a victory because decades of denial failed to erase Kurdish identity or Kurdish political demands. The state is now being forced to deal with the Kurdish question politically.
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