Turkey Risks Descending Into a Bloodbath

The descent into the maelstrom has been quick and surprising. Until last year Turkey, despite the strains of the civil war in neighbouring Syria, was stable and peaceful, and seemed to be on its way to resolving the long-running Kurdish conflict. That stability began to unravel after parliamentary elections on June 7th, when the Justice and Development party (AK), which has dominated Turkish politics since 2002, lost its majority as the HDP snatched key seats in Turkey’s south-east. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s strong-man president and a co-founder of AK, was determined to undo that result. After the AK's desultory efforts to form a coalition government failed, Mr Erdogan called for new elections on November 1st. Mr Erdogan and the AK are widely believed to have escalated the war against the Kurds in order to inflame nationalist feelings and drive down the HDP's share of the vote.