Q&A-Turkey's Kurdish problem
ANKARA, July 21 (Reuters) - Turkey's Kurdish problem, which has fuelled separatist conflict in the mainly Kurdish southeast, has long been an obstacle to Ankara's European Union membership ambitions and hinders economic development in that region.
President Abdullah Gul said in May that Turkey had an "historic opportunity" to solve the problem, ending a conflict which has claimed 40,000 lives.
Here are questions and answers about Turkey's Kurdish issue:
WHAT HAS CHANGED?
* Under reforms aimed at winning EU membership, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party government has in recent years expanded cultural and minority rights for minority Kurds, who complain of discrimination at the hands of the Turkish state.
* Turkey's conservative establishment, which had long regarded compromise in the southeast as a threat to the foundations of Turkish statehood, has re-examined its strategy. The commander of the armed forces, General Ilker Basbug, says military might alone will not end the conflict and that cultural and social steps are needed to address the problem.
* The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which launched a campaign in 1984 for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast, has been weakened by Turkish military operations against bases in northern Iraq. It has made recent peace offers to end violence and has extended until September a unilateral ceasefire.
* Regional momentum favours a deal. Ankara and Baghdad have stepped up cooperation in the fight against the PKK. Iran and Syria also share intelligence with Turkey over Kurdish rebels on their borders. Turkey has also opened diplomatic channels with the autonomous Kurdish government of northern Iraq. Earlier this year, Turkey, Iraq and the United States agreed to set up a joint command centre in northern Iraq against the PKK.
WHAT COULD HAPPEN NEXT?
* The government is said to be preparing to unveil new reforms to resolve the Kurdish problem which may be announced within a month, pre-empting a "road map" from jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
* Reforms could include further easing restrictions on the use of the once-banned Kurdish language and taking steps to encourage separatist Kurdish militants to surrender. Other steps under consideration include restoring Kurdish names to towns.
* The government is also reportedly making preparations to transfer nine convicts to Imrali after the EU had expressed concern about Ocalan's isolated incarceration.
* Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence, plans to release a "road map" to end the conflict on Aug. 15, the date on which the PKK made its first armed attack, according to Ocalan's lawyers. The government is likely to reject his proposals, but it may spur the government to declare a road map of its own in order to be seen as taking the political initiative.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN STUMBLING BLOCKS?
* Getting the PKK to lay down its weapons. The PKK is believed to number 4,000 fighters. All sides agree measures are needed to bring the rebels down from the mountains. The government rejects a general amnesty for PKK guerrillas. Any legal formula will need changes to the country's legislation, which could provoke a nationalist backlash in public opinion. Current tensions between the military and the government might also work against finding a legal compromise.
* Turkey has repeatedly said it will not negotiate with the PKK, a group which the EU, the United States and Turkey all brand a terrorist organisation. But government reforms would need to satisfy popular Kurdish demands. Murat Karayilan, a senior PKK commander, said in a recent interview that the PKK no longer sought an independent Kurdish state but recognition of Kurdish rights and ethnic identity.
* The Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), Turkey's only legal Kurdish party, demands the release of Ocalan, anathema to the Turkish state.
* Analysts say massive government investment is needed to deal with the root problems in the southeast, where per capita income in some rural areas is a fifth of that in Istanbul and in the more industrialised parts of wealthier western Turkey. (Editing by Jon Boyle)
