What Works? Countermeasures to Terrorism: A Case Study of PKK

Abstract

What works? This can be the ultimate question in the war on terrorism. How can we reduce and hopefully eliminate this type of human suffering? A good many ideas or suggestions are available; however, we are still uncertain what counter terrorism measures or tactics do indeed work. By using the case study method, this paper attempts to answer this question. The Turkish government has long struggled against PKK terrorism and has adopted several different policy measures to put an end to this persistent problem. This paper will examine the efforts of the Turkish government to uncover what measures indeed work and what other measures have not proven to be effective against its goal to counter terrorism. Several existing theoretical perspectives or counter terrorism suggestions will be introduced and examined in order to identify the best plausible suggestion to reduce or eliminate terrorism inherent in the Turkish case. Five different Turkish counter terrorism measures were selected and will be examined whether they indeed impacted the reduction or elimination of PKK terrorism.

Terör Örgütlerinin Hayatta Kalmasını Sağlayan Nedenler: Terör Örgütü PKK Odaklı Bir İnceleme, 1978-2022

“…PKK'nın bugüne kadar ayakta kalmasını sağlayan çeşitli etkenler bulunmaktadır. 2000'li yılların ortasına kadar terör örgütünün yerelde kırsaldan aldığı lojistik desteğin, bölgesel Suriye devletinden aldığı destek nedeniyle olduğu belirtilmiştir (Kim ve Yun, 2008). Bu yaklaşım Türkiye-Suriye ilişkileri düzeldiği ölçüde geçerliliğini kaybederken, 2011 sonrasında Türkiye-Suriye ilişkilerinin Arap Baharı'nın Suriye'de yol açtığı trajedi nedeniyle tekrardan bozulmasına ve bu yaklaşımın tekrardan geçerlilik kazanmasına yol açmıştır.…”

The Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Counterterrorism Policies on the PKK-inflicted Violence during the Democratization Process of Turkey

“…Another argument raised by the advocates of defiance based policies (Crenshaw 1995;Wilkinson 2011) is that hardline counterterrorism policies to combat ethnicity based terrorism have a potential to create of mythologies of martyrdom, to strength group solidarity, and to increase public support for the militants. For the defiance theory, public opinion is the key factor in counterterrorism initiatives because one of the important goals of terrorists groups is to take public support and to be recognized by moderate societal members for their ideological or political goals (Crenshaw 1999;Kim and Yun 2008;Ünal 2011).…”

“…The unanticipated increase in the number ethnic terrorist events during the post-cold war period has taken scholars` attention (C.P. Barros, Passos, and Gil-Alana 2006;Carlos Pestana Barros 2003;Enders and Sandler 2000;Kim and Yun 2008;Steinberg 2008;Teymur and Smith 2008;Ünal, 2009) to evaluate the factors behind ethnic conflict. The question of to what extent counterterrorism policies are effective is also tried to be investigated.…”