Fréderike Geerdink further told in her interview with Kurdpress that Kurdish forces in Syria are ideologically a threat to Turkey but the operation of the forces would be limited inside Syria.

The analyst, who has lived more than a year in PKK organization in order to understand Kurdish question better and understand the PKK outlook towards solving the Kurdish question in Turkey and her PhD thesis is on the Kurdish issue and the PKK tension with Turkey, stressed that the problem here is that Turkey is not ready to accept any other identity other than Turkishness and Sunni Muslim outlook.

Geerdink who has published a book about the Kurdish issue “The first – The Boys Are Dead” which is about the Roboski massacre, underscored in the interview that military operation is unable to bring an end to the Kurdish tension in the state.

What follows is her full answers to Kurdpress questions;

What is the main problem with the Kurdish question in Turkey?

The main problem is that in Turkey everybody has to be a Sunni Turk.

If you are not, you have to be anyway. The state doesn't allow any other identity, that's what it boils down to. The Kurdish movement

wants to change that not only for the Kurds, but for other groups also

who don't fit in the ideal picture of the Turkish state: Alevis,

Kurds, Armenians, Roma, Laz, but also other people who cannot be who they are in Turkey, like the LGBT community.

Some western people say that top leaders of the YPD and YPG are former PKK commanders? How do you describe the relationship between PKK and PYD/YPG?

Some of the YPG and YPJ commanders used to be in the PKK, true. But what is important to udnerstand, that these organisations have the same ideology and long term goals (anti-capitalism, anti nation-state, anti-patriarchy) but that their tasks in their respective fields of oepration are different. The PKK is in a war with the Turkish state on Turkish soil and doesn't hold territory, the YPG/J is the only military power in Kurdistan in Syria and the main component of the SDF outside the Kurdish majority areas in the north of Syria. The PKK and YPG/J are both an ideological threat to Turkey, but only the PKK is a military threat to Turkey. The YPG/J is defending its areas inside Syria against for example ISIS and groups alligned with the Turkish army, but does not pose a threat to Turkish territory.

In Afrin, the YPG/J have another strategy, since Afrin was occupied by Turkey early this year and now the YPG/J has resorted to guerrilla war there. But this is also inside Syria, not cross border into Turkey.

PKK is silent these days, why?

The PKK is always less active in the winter months. They stay in their camps, focus on education. Attacks are still carried out in Turkey but main stream media don't always report it. Also, a couple of weeks ago, the PKK carried out an attack with an armed attack in Turkey. My sources have told me the PKK only does this when they know they can use such a method more often, so apparently they got the drones and the technology somewhere - probably not too hard to assemble. So we may expect more drone attacks by PKK in Turkey.

On the other hand, also the Turkish army is more often using armed drones to attack the PKK both in Bakur, so inside Turkey, as in the mountains in Basur. Armed drones are much more dangerous than F16's since they can spot a target and fire immediately.

Erdogan says there will be another war on Kurds in Eastern Euphrates, he also continues to bombardments in Qandil. Why Erdogan is so keen to solve the problem with Kurds militarily?

Because he is desperate to hold on to power. Turkey and the PKK can't beat each other militarily, that's been obvious for a couple of decades now. The PKK is still willing to talk, since they are always willing to talk (when a few basic conditions are met, like a mutual ceasefire and an independent third party at the table to oversee negotiations, for example) but for Erdogan, finding a political solutions equals losing much of his power. He knows that a real solution to the Kurdish issue will mean that power will have to be

decentralized, Turkey has to become a more federal state, the democratic institutions (judiciary, army, universities, media, etc) will have to be restored/installed/strengthened. What happens if Erdogan has less power and there is an independent judiciary and independent media? He will be in court for the blood on his hands and the corrupted money in his pockets. This is, I believe, one of his biggest motivations to hold onto power, whatever it takes.

Some say that the new treats from Erdogan are related to new elections in Turkey and he wants to drive the Nationalist forces, is it true?

Always.

How do you describe Kurd’s situation in Turkey in a near future?

They will continue to resist, as they have done since 1978, when the PKK was founded. They may be more underground now but the resistance is always continuing, everywhere: in houses, in un-official NGO's, in the DBP (regional sister of HDP) and HDP, in the prisons in Turkey, in the women's and youth movement. The Kurds know they will have to be persistent so that's what they will be.

Reporter’s code:50101