As Kurds mark the 26th anniversary of Öcalan’s abduction and imprisonment, anticipation competes with foreboding. Will Turkey allow the recent meetings with Öcalan to develop into a peace process, or will they shut the door again and simply continue their unremitting attacks on Kurds and Kurdish freedoms? Meanwhile, the mayor of Van has been sentenced to prison, Turkish pressure is sabotaging hopes of an agreement between the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the new interim government in Damascus, and international bodies are again failing to rise to the occasion.