Dreams of Kurdistan
Buoyed by the recent success of their Iraqi brethren, the Kurds in Turkey look hopefully to the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a new peace deal
Jul 5th 2014 | YALAZA, LICE | From the print edition
IN YALAZA, a remote mountain village near the town of Lice, the seeds of a “free Kurdistan” are being sown. A “popular council” vetted by rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will soon launch Turkey’s first school offering education in the Kurdish language. Last summer Yalaza’s fields were carpeted with cannabis. They are now filled with tobacco and other legal crops after the PKK outlawed the booming drug trade. “Yalaza will be a model commune for all of Kurdistan, the state cannot set foot here,” says Serdar Celik, a PKK man who seems to be in charge.
More:Turkey and the Kurds: Dreams of Kurdistan | The Economist