Wait, I’m confused, here you said this:
“The winners among the Kurds will be the most radical elements, as more moderate leaders are disgraced.
The PKK did not come out of a vacuum of true grievances.”
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3785967/posts?page=28#28
No conflict.
Yes, the PKK founder had some Marxist philosophy in him. But, today, within Turkey and elsewhere many inside the PKK, and among the many different Kuridsh parties, have a range of mere socialist to moderate democratic notions. Even Ocalan himself has moderated his political views - not to be confused between domestic politics and the views of political autonomy for Kurds.
And yes, people tend to the most extreme solutions when they are consistently thwarted from obtaining political ends by more moderate means. We have it right here within Conservatism.
And yes, there was no vacuum of true grievances when the PKK started. There was plenty of true grievances. The PKK founder advocated violence and total independence from Turkey - he didn’t have to have Marxist leanings to have that view; the Kurds had tried many moderate ways with Turkey to obtain some autonomy for themselves, with little to no results. Others disagreed with Ocalan. Slowly over the years, Ocalan has gravitated to a more moderate position, some measure of autonomy (as in Iraq), over full independence. Peace talks between Turkey and the PKK have been held off and on since 2010-15. A few times it was thought Ocalan and Turkey had reached some agreement, only to see that not happen. The Kurdish fighters in Syria have been led by YPG units, yes, as they are the most experienced, but not all the Kurds fighting with them belong to the YPG. Even among the YPG they have differing political views outside of fighting to gain or protect some measure of autonomy over their lands.
But, if they are wedged between oppression from Assad and continued political suppression inside Turkey, again (even democratic politically moderate Kurdish politicians have been arrested without trials by Erdogan), then yes, the most radical “solutions” will gain among more Kurds in Syria.