Key Strategic Issues List for US Army on PKK

Key Strategic Issues List, July 2008

Edited by Dr. Antulio J. Echevarria, II.

Added July 16, 2008

Type: Book

170 Pages

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The Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL) offers military and civilian researchers a ready reference of topics that are of particular interest to the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense. The KSIL performs a valuable service by linking the research community with major defense organizations which, in turn, seek to benefit from focused research. It thus forms a critical link in an ongoing research cycle. With the publication of the AY 2008-09 KSIL, the Strategic Studies Institute and the U.S. Army War College invite the research community to address any of the many strategic challenges identified herein. Further information regarding specific topics can be obtained by contacting SSI faculty or relevant KSIL sponsors.

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IV. Kurds (Kongra Gel/PKK):

1. Case study of the potential impact and implications, both to Turkey

and to the Kongra Gel/PKK, of the transition of the Kongra Gel from

an insurgency to a political movement supporting the Kurdish cause

2. Case study of factors enabling the Kongra Gel, as a Marxist insurgency

made up of primarily of Muslims, to mitigate pressures to adopt more

of a radical Islamic agenda and maintain its focus on the basic Marxist

(secular) tenets of the organization

3. Case study of Kongra Gel/PKK insurgency from the basis of its ability

to avoid/prevent serious schisms or splintering, even after its leader’s

imprisonment, at least up to the current potential split. What are the

potential implications of the apparent division of the Kongra Gel into

“reformist” and “hardline” camps?

4. Case study of the effectiveness of Turkish Jandarma paramilitary

police forces in combating the Kongra Gel/PKK

5. Case study of the effectiveness of Turkish military operations against

the Kongra Gel/PKK inside northern Iraq from the 1990s to present.

Were these operations successful in disrupting the KGK/PKK, for

the long term, short term, or has there been little actual disruption to

Kongra Gel operations?