Turkey on the Move in The Middle East

Reports out of Turkey indicate that it is on the verge of making peace with its restive Kurdish population even as it moves to mend strained relations with Sunni Arab governments in the region following years of war and tensions. The Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) which represents the Kurds in Turkish politics, announced on Sunday that the leadership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and many other countries, is ready to being negotiations towards disarmament and rapprochement with Ankara. “This is a historic declaration of will to replace armed struggle with democratic politics,” HDP’s Sırrı Sureyya Onder said. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with newly crowned King Salman to discuss closer cooperation against regional threats, including Iran and the Islamic State (IS) terror militia.