Resumption of Negotiations Only Way Out of Turkey-Kurdistan Crisis

Head of the Group of Communities in Kurdistan Zübeyir Aydar said that the conflict between Ankara and the Kurdistan could be solved only by negotiations.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Relations between Ankara and the Kurdistan region are extremely strained, and the only possible way out of this crisis is the resumption of negotiations between the Turkish and Kurdish leaders, head of the Group of Communities in Kurdistan Zübeyir Aydar told Sputnik Turkey on Friday.

“The current situation is that the problem will be either solved via the resumption of negotiations, or the worsening of the situation will reach its peak and will result in the war. It is not necessary to know much to foresee further development of the conflict. The only possible way out of this critical situation is to renew negotiations,” Aydar said.

Turkish Kurdistan region has long wanted to separate from Turkey and establish an independent state.

An armed conflict between Turkey and various Kurdish insurgent groups began in 1986, when the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a founder of the Group of Kurdistan Communities, announced a so-called Kurdish uprising.

Turkish authorities have held indirect talks with Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the PKK, considered a terrorist group by Ankara, with the goal of stopping the conflict that has claimed over 40,000 lives do far, however the negotiations did not result in a comprehensive solution to the problem.