A Parallel for Better Understanding the War in Lebanon: the Asymmetric Conflict Between the Contemporary Turkish State and PKK Cover Image

Un termen de comparație pentru înțelegerea războiului din Liban: conflictul asimetric dintre statul turc contemporan și PKK
A Parallel for Better Understanding the War in Lebanon: the Asymmetric Conflict Between the Contemporary Turkish State and PKK

Author(s): Andrei Ștefan Nistor
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Geopolitics
Published by: Institutul Diplomatic Român

Summary/Abstract: Asymmetric (and sometimes low intensify) conflict, also known as unconventional warfare, can be said to be a new kind of war. It is the very opposite of the concept of high intensity conflict, which means military sophistication and a well-established battle plan. It can be said that the main difference between the two types of war lies in the fact that high intensity conflict is more open, rapid and striking, and also stretches on shorter periods of time. The low intensity conflict in Turkey is the fight – more than two decades long – between the Turkish state and the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). Although the conflict had been long preceded by conflicting situations between the Kurds and the Turks, it is only in modern time that the low-intensity conflict appeared. Several features and stages of this conflict are presented using a lot of details, with an obvious aim: to offer a chance to compare the evolutions in Turkey with the very recent asymmetric clash in Lebanon, in which Israel was confronted with Hezbollah, a terrorist entity with a political agenda as unacceptable as that of PKK.

  • Issue Year: II/2006
  • Issue No: II
  • Page Range: 114-121
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Romanian