A Fragile Peace for Turkey and the Kurds

Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, called last week for his party to disarm and dissolve. This is historic, both because it has the potential to end a bloody insurgency in Turkey and because it signals the emergence of a new regional order in the wake of America’s retirement as the world’s sheriff.

More than 40,000 people have lost their lives in the decadeslong conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK—a conflict that has sprawled into Iraq and Syria. The war has destroyed relations with Turkey’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners, including the U.S., and it has crushed the country’s once-promising democracy with hard-line policies.