Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli said Monday that Türkiye’s push to eliminate terrorism would become a shared national achievement, stressing that the process involves no secret negotiations and warning against attempts to derail it through provocations.
Speaking to the Türkgün newspaper about the latest stage of the “terror-free Türkiye” initiative, Bahçeli said an overwhelming majority of the public wants terrorism and its consequences removed entirely from the country’s agenda.
“‘Terror-free Türkiye’ is a state policy, a success of Turkish politics and, God willing, will be the work of our entire nation,” Bahçeli noted.
He emphasized that the process would not undermine the memory or rights of Türkiye’s fallen soldiers, veterans and their families, while rejecting claims that negotiations were being conducted behind closed doors.
Bahçeli also stressed that legal measures introduced as part of the initiative should not be interpreted as an amnesty.
“The PKK/KCK terrorist group and all affiliated structures must end their de facto existence and surrender all weapons and ammunition. This is a prerequisite,” he said, adding that necessary legal and administrative measures could follow once those conditions are met.
Bahçeli called for vigilance against possible attempts to sabotage the process, saying Türkiye aims to establish a broader transformation in which violence and separatism are rejected.
“I call on our nation to remain vigilant against provocations,” he said. “We will not give an opportunity to those who want to distort the process.”
Bahçeli added that the sole objective is to completely remove terrorism and separatism from our country’s agenda and the minds of our people, eliminate all factors and areas in which terrorism grows and thrives, and build a strong Türkiye of the future through consensus on national unity and solidarity.
On the other hand, senior officials from the MHP and ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) reiterated their support for the initiative during the MHP’s 12th ordinary provincial congress on Sunday in northwestern Yalova.
AK Party Deputy Chair and Yalova lawmaker Ahmet Büyükgümüş said the PKK had reached a point where it could no longer maintain its organizational presence and was being forced to disarm and dissolve itself.
Büyükgümüş pointed to the recently adopted Terror-Free Türkiye Framework Law, which received 467 votes in Parliament, saying subsequent steps under the legislation would depend on the terrorist group fulfilling its commitments.
“They will either fulfill their words, end their weapons, equipment and organizational existence together with all their extensions and branches, and then the steps required by the law will begin,” he said.
He added that Türkiye’s counterterrorism campaign had neither ended nor been suspended and would continue until terrorist structures in the region were eliminated.
MHP Deputy Chair Mevlüt Karakaya, meanwhile, credited Türkiye’s security forces, fallen soldiers and veterans with creating the conditions that made the initiative possible.
Karakaya said Türkiye had largely eliminated the PKK’s armed capacity domestically while continuing cross-border counterterrorism operations.
“We ended its armed dimension,” he underlined, adding that the current process was intended to bring the fight against terrorism to a legal and political conclusion.
Karakaya also rejected claims that the government had negotiated with the terrorist group, saying there had been “no negotiation with terrorism or terrorists.”
Türkiye’s Parliament last week passed a landmark 12-article law supporting the country’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative, following months of political efforts led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairperson Devlet Bahçeli.
The law covers most PKK members who will be able to benefit from its advantages only after the National Security Council formally declares that the PKK dissolved itself and abandoned arms. After the declaration, PKK members will have six months to apply. In return, they will have their prosecution postponed for a period between five and 10 years, based on the severity of offenses they have committed while they were a member of the PKK. The PKK’s senior cadres and members involved in intentional murder and other violent crimes will be exempt from leniency.
