Speaking to German daily Bild am Sonntag, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier discussed a range of issues including immigration, the settlement process between the Turkish government and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and reverberations from the Syrian conflict in Turkey. Regarding the recent spike in violence and PKK attacks against Turkish security forces, Steinmeier offered a bleak assessment. In his response to a variety of questions, he emphasized some points worth immediate attention. Firstly, he stressed that by accepting a large number of refugees from Iraq and Syria, Turkey had become the largest refugee-hosting country in the world. The civil war in Syria, Steinmeier argued, brings security challenges in Turkey's southern region close to the Syrian border. Additionally, the PKK has attacked Turkish security forces, complicating the situation on the ground. But what matters most, Steinmeier believes, is the re-continuation of the settlement process. He said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government has invested much in gaining peace with the Kurds. For this reason, the German foreign minister says Turkey should not allow the breakdown of the whole process. His calls echo similar warnings of other senior European diplomats and leaders who are wary of the possibility of Turkey's abrupt descent into chaos and that a continuation of the vicious cycle of renewed violence with the PKK would complicate the US-led global coalition's fight against the radical terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). After a year of reluctance, Turkey finally entered the fray against ISIL, granting the US permission to use its southern air bases, including İncirlik Air Base, from which to launch strikes against ISIL targets in Syria.
