Turkey Wonk

In the small Kurdish-majority city of Cizre, Kurdish affiliates of the PKK have been digging trenches to prevent Turkish security forces from entering the city center. In recent weeks, two Kurdish children have been killed during these clashes. Against this backdrop, a large majority of Kurds in Turkey have identified with their counterparts in the besieged Kurdish town of Kobane - the small enclave that has been under siege by Islamic State forces since summer 2014. The PYD-IS clashes prompted ore pronounced calls for unity through out the Kurdish majority areas in the Middle East. In today’s podcast, Aaron first speaks with Noah Blaser about the political impact of the Cizre clashes in Turkey. Later, Aaron is joined by Cale Salih for an in-depth discussion about the politics of the Kurdish movement more broadly and how Kobane and the wars in Iraq and Syria have affected the Kurdish movement. Links: Divided Kurds fight the Islamic State | European Council on Foreign Relations BBC News - Kurds demand u