Costly Incrementalism: U.S. PKK Policy and Relations with Türkiye

Year 2025, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 20 - 41, 28.01.2025

Richard Outzen

https://doi.org/10.20991/allazimuth.1448027

Cited By: 1

Abstract

U.S. policy towards the PKK, a designated Foreign Terror Organization, has
varied significantly over four decades, reflecting a clear periodization based
on pragmatic policy interests and the interplay of U.S. actions and Turkish
responses. Washington has over time supported Turkish counter-PKK actions
without direct involvement; actively supported Turkish counter-PKK efforts;
tolerated or tacitly supported PKK activities; and directly instrumentalized
and supported the PKK in Syria and regionally. Washington’s evolving stance
toward the PKK coincided with the rise of Al Qaeda (AQ) and its offshoot, the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as the focus of U.S. Middle East policy.
The evolution reflected an incremental approach that subordinated U.S.-Turkish
relations and other regional problems to the campaign against AQ/IS. Bilateral
cooperation suffered as incrementalism, low trust, and transactionalism came to
characterize the relationship. This paper examines the history, current dynamics,
and possible future trajectory of U.S. PKK policy as a problem in U.S.-Turkish
bilateral relations.

Keywords

U.S. Foreign Policy, terrorism, U.S.-Turkish relations, national security, NATO

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