Disarming, Demobilizing, and Reintegrating the Kurdistan Worker's Party

This research report suggests strategies for disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating (DDR) the Kurdistan Worker's party (PKK). To this end, it proposes measures that would enable the international community and the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) to increase pressure on the PKK. It also assesses the political and socioeconomic conditions that increase support for the PKK among Turkish Kurds. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is under pressure to act decisively. However, this report recommends that he avoid military action against the PKK in northern Iraq, which would have serious repercussions. Military action would undermine Turkey's democratic development, radicalize Turkish Kurds, and risk a regional conflagration that would both adversely affect relations between the United States and Turkey and compromise Turkey's candidacy for membership in the European Union (EU).