Nihat Ali Özcan, PhD
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From counter-insurgency to stability
Thirty years have passed and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK, problem is now in a new phase. The conflict took so long that the world, the region and…
The Kurdish problem and Erdoğan’s roadmap
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan aims to get the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) out of the way so as to implement his career plan. Last week he made one of…
Waiting for new waves of terror
The suicide attack at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara put Turkey in the spotlight. The police quickly identified the perpetrator. It was immediately announced that the…
Can the Turkish government be an ally of the PKK in Syria?
Several reasons compel the Turkish government to renegotiate with convicted the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader, Abdullah Öcalan. These are escalating PKK attacks,…
Jihadists in Syria and western targets in Turkey
Many victims lost their lives in last week’s Jihadist attack in Algeria. Everyone, especially the citizens, governments and companies of Western countries situated in…
The PKK’s European front organization: a weak link in the chain
Negotiations between the Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization on behalf of the Turkish government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)…
Why promote the ex-Marxist Öcalan as a devout Muslim?
The Recep Tayyip Erdoğan government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have started negotiating again. Several difficulties lie ahead. In addition to…
Negotiations with the PKK and Erdoğan’s difficulties
Erdoğan is faced with the dilemma of his ambition to become president and the bargaining with the PKK. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan officially announced that…
State and substate actors in Turkey: Which has more intelligence?
The bugging devices found in Prime Minister Erdoğan’s office triggered a debate on the Turkish intelligence services. To understand this story, we need historical…
The meaning of ‘terrorist’ for the US and Turkey
There seems to be no consensus between the allies regarding the political projections, risk perceptions and the identities of the future actors of the post-al-Assad…
‘German Patriots’ and ‘the five-star hotel operation’ for Syria
The sponsorship needs of the Syrian opposition will test the medium-term capacity of intelligence organizations, armies, countries and alliances. The Turkish government…
Turkey’s Syria bargain with Russia
It is very difficult to provide a complete analysis of Turkey’s relations with Russia. Numerous contradictory factors shape these relations. Interestingly, as interests…