Kurdish Intellectuals Try to Mediate Between PKK and Turkish Government

A group of Kurdish intellectuals who live in Europe asked Iraqi president and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani and Kurdistan Regional Government president Masood Barzani to play a mediating role between the Turkish government and the PKK, according to Burhan Yaseen, an intellectual and history professor at Sweden University. (The PKK, also known as the Kurdistan Workers' Party, has fought the Turkish government for Kurdish independence and has been accused of carrying out terrorist acts.) The Kurdish intellectuals are also attempting to hold a large conference of parties and Kurdish figures to tackle the Kurdish role in the Middle East. Yaseen said the conference and mediation would help calm increasing tensions (between the Turkish government and the PKK) and was in the Kurds' interest. Yaseen said they also want to address US-Kurdish relations in the conference.