CC: Burcu Ozcelik – The End of the PKK & Turkey’s Great Game

Sep 10, 2025

Burcu Ozcelik, an academic and RUSI fellow, is a leading voice on Turkish politics and the Kurdish issue. She sheds light on the history and evolution of the PKK, revealing its transition from a separatist group to one seeking political rights within Turkey. The discussion reveals President Erdoğan's motivations toward resolving the Kurdish question as part of broader statecraft. Ozcelik also assesses Turkey's emerging role in a post-Assad Middle East, emphasizing the shift towards stability and economic connectivity over historical ideologies.

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INSIGHT

Kurdish Issue Is Core To Turkish Policy

Burcu Ozcelik links deep understanding of Turkey to the Kurdish issue as central to Turkish domestic and foreign policy.
She argues studying the PKK is unavoidable to grasp Turkey's regional and NATO relationships.

ANECDOTE

Personal Roots Span Turkey And Abroad

Burcu Ozcelik explains her background: Turkish, raised largely in northern Virginia, then Cambridge and London.
Her family spans east and west Turkey, giving her a hybrid perspective on the country's politics.

INSIGHT

Focus On Rebel Transformation And Statehood

Burcu studies rebel group transformation and state challenges across the Middle East and North Africa.
She focuses on how armed groups shift ideologies and interact with state structures.

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This week Thomas is joined by academic and RUSI fellow, Dr. Burcu Ozcelik, a leading expert on Turkish domestic and foreign policy, particularly its relations with the Kurds and the Middle East. With a Ph.D. from Cambridge University on the topic of the PKK and their path to political reconciliation, Burcu has written widely about the Kurds and their relationship with the Turkish state - you can find her work over on X @BurcuAOzcelik

Burcu provides a deep dive into the history of the Kurds, a people divided across national borders after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and traces the evolution of the PKK from its Marxist-Leninist, separatist origins to a group that has now shifted its focus to achieving political and cultural rights within Turkey. The pair also explore the political motives of President Erdoğan and the Turkish establishment, who are seeking to finally resolve the Kurdish issue as a matter of long-term statecraft, before concluding with a forward-looking analysis of Turkey's role as a rising middle power in the post-Assad Middle East, which now prioritizes stability and economic connectivity over past ideological ambitions.

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