Erdogan Risking Losses in Polls as Kurdish War Spurs Backlash
This article is for subscribers only.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pushed for cultural rights and investment, not guns and censorship, to end Turkey’s 26-year war against Kurdish separatism. Opponents say the mounting death toll shows he got it wrong.
Militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have killed at least 35 soldiers in the largely Kurdish southeast since May 31. The violence has Erdogan, who must run for re-election in the next year, fending off criticism from both Kurdish sympathizers and their strongest critics.