An amnesty by the state, is of course, possible if a majority in Parliament is behind it. However, in this important issue, we need a national consensus so that such a move can help restore social tranquility in this country rather than becoming yet another source of friction.

A few days ago Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his “permitted” entourage of seven paid a visit to President George W. Bush at the White House. Turkey held its breath and counted the minutes, trying to guess how long the meeting would last and how much of the time would be spent for the photo shoot and how much would be spent on translation.

The terrorist actions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party seemed to have been terminated in 1998 by the Turkish military, which had given an ultimatum to Syria after being disappointed with how the politicians were handling the situation, and thus proved that in desperate times, diplomacy could become more influential when enhanced with military power.

A closer look reveals how global forces helped support the Kurdistan Workers' Party over the years.