For more than three decades now, the Kurdish question has continued as perhaps the most pressing issue of contemporary Turkey, fundamentally influencing the ebbs and flows of Turkish democracy, authoritarianism, foreign policy, economic development, law and order and societal peace. With intermittently shifting patterns of peace and conflict, the political violence surrounding the Kurdish question continues to haunt the everyday lives of many in Turkey and neighboring territories such as Iraqi Kurdistan and northern Syria.

For more than three decades now, the Kurdish question has continued as perhaps the most pressing issue of contemporary Turkey, fundamentally influencing the ebbs and flows of Turkish democracy, authoritarianism, foreign policy, economic development, law and order and societal peace. With intermittently shifting patterns of peace and conflict, the political violence surrounding the Kurdish question continues to haunt the everyday lives of many in Turkey and neighboring territories such as Iraqi Kurdistan and northern Syria.