Turkey had two options: Wage war and send the military across the border to northern Iraq, where the PKK made the Kandil mountain range their headquarters, or engage politically with Iraqi Kurds and seek serious reform at home.

There is enough blame to go around for the failure of this initial stage of the opening. But the process should not be and indeed cannot be reversed. Now is the time to take stock, learn the appropriate lessons from the failures of the first phase, and move forward.