In case you haven’t heard, it’s a volatile world these days. While Europe wonders if it’s just lost its US security umbrella, while a Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread, while Syria figures out how to hold it together after the fall of Assad; major regional player Turkey looks to get its own house in order with the announced dissolution of a 40-year old Kurdish insurgency. Why did Recep Tayep Erdogan and imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan agree to open a path to peace? Why now?
Will it work this time? The pair have tried and failed before to bury the hatchet.
We talked about the cross border consequences in Iraq, where many guerillas have their base, and in Syria where Ankara-backed militias are openly fighting Syrian YPG Kurdish fighters, the secular Syrian Kurds who as part of the SDF have the backing of US troops as they take on remnants of Isis.
On that score, will that support from Washington continue? With Iran in retreat and Russia elsewhere occupied, how does the Trump administration see its role?
Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habib and Aurore Laborie.
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