Should US Remove PKK From Its Terrorist List?

Washington DC - For those interested in the Middle East, few haven’t heard of the PKK. They are the Kurdish initials for the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has fought to achieve more cultural and political rights for Turkey’s 15 million Kurds since 1984.

In that often bloody conflict, more than 40 thousands people, mostly Kurds have died. As a result,  the PKK has found itself in the terrorist lists of he United States and the European Union. 

But the PKK has never attacked Western targets. And over the past few years. it has largely refrained from killing civilians in Turkey and negotiates with the Turkish state.

Ironically, this "terrorist" group has emerged as an effective force in the fight against what the West regards as the world’s biggest terrorist group:  the Islamic State- better known as ISIS or ISIL.  

So should US Remove PKK From Its Terrorist List? 

Key guests: 
David Pollack,  scholar and Kurdish expert and the Washington Institute.
Phyllis Bennis, scholar at Institute of Policy Studies
Bill Park of Kings College London
Edmund Ghareeb, Middle East scholar.