VOA -- Turkey Bans Kurdish Political Party

Dogu Ergil, a leading expert on Kurdish and Middle Eastern affairs at Ankara University, says Thursday's ban will further weaken Turkey's prospects of joining the European Union. What is even more damaging, he says, is that it will rekindle tensions in the Kurdish-dominated region. An atmosphere of relative peace has prevailed in the southeastern provinces ever since PKK rebels called off their 15-year-long armed campaign in 1999.