From the Wall Street Journal:
ISTANBUL -- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey met the leader of the country's main Kurdish party Wednesday, signaling a new drive to end a 25-year conflict that has hobbled Turkey's status as a rising regional power and slowed its efforts to join the European Union.
"Our people want unity... and an end to blood and killing," said Mr. Erdogan, describing the hourlong meeting with Democratic Society Party head Ahmet Turk as "very, very important."
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My Comment: Turkey has very little to show for its attempts to "end conflicts". In fact, new ones are starting to brew.
The poor planning and construction of dams within Turkey that now limits the flow of water into Iraq (thereby creating an environmental emergency with profound implications for the future of Iraq) is creating a great deal of suspicion and hostility between the two states.
The arrests and imprisonment of Army Generals and opponents to the Islamic bent of the Turkish Government is creating deep divisions within the Turkish population itself .... with many worrying on where will this use of the judiciary stop.
The lack of any willingness to stop the flow of trade into Iran (in violation of UN trade embargoes) is not enduring Turkey with most European and Arab states.
Embracing the dictatorship that governs Syria is not making the other Arab states comfortable with this direction in foreign policy, nor is Israel comfortable with this obvious alliance.