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Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq have dramatically escalated their attacks on Turkish targets this month after their imprisoned leader accused Turkey of not establishing dialogue with his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
It is a 26-year-old conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives. Kurdish separatists have been fighting the Turkish government to create an ethnic homeland within Turkey since 1984.
Earlier this month, the rebels dismissed a year-old ceasefire because of what they called "Turkey's continuing hostility to the Kurdish people".
The violence escalated on Saturday claiming 11 Turkish soldiers and at least 12 members of the PKK.
As Turkish leaders gathered to mourn the deaths of the soldiers, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, denounced the PKK and vowed to crush them.
How will this renewed conflict unfold and can there be a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey?
Joining the programme are Saban Disli, an adviser to the Turkish prime minister on foreign affairs, Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament, and Fadi Hakura, a Turkey specialist and an associate fellow at Chatham House.
This episode of Inside Story aired from Monday, June 21, 2010.
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