Authorities argue that it's a purely internal matter and none of the outside world's business. The treason trial of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, which began May 31 on a prison island south of Istanbul, has brought the Kurdish problem back into focus. Yet the emphasis here has been solely on the brutality and atrocities attributed to the PKK and nothing has been said in the court or the press about the military's harsh reaction to the rebellion and the effects of its actions on the civilian population. B. Firat Dayankili, a member of parliament representing Turkey's Democratic Left Party, a member of the ruling coalition, declines to even speak about a Kurdish problem. The area is harsh geographically with little settlements distributed over a wide area and it's difficult to protect them.
Turkey is a unitary state that brooks no claims for minority status by any group.
Speaking Kurdish was illegal until 1991 and the language still cannot be legally taught in schools or broadcast on radio or television. If you do Kosovo, you have to do Turkey. The situation in southeastern Turkey can be compared to that in Kosovo before the start of NATO bombings, when Serb forces engaged in actions against the Kosovo Liberation Army, which the Serbs said aimed to shatter the territorial integrity of Serbia. In pursuing the war against the KLA, the Serbs burned villages and allegedly committed massacres, leading to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people. In Turkey, the pattern was not very different.