Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), who is the chief architect of the terror-free Türkiye initiative, urged the PKK terrorist group to immediately dissolve itself.
Bahçeli’s written statement on Tuesday followed reports that the group was planning to hold a “congress” to decide on laying down arms and dissolving itself by the end of this month. The “congress” is likely postponed to May now.
The veteran politician launched the initiative last year when he unexpectedly shook hands with lawmakers of the opposition Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) during the inauguration of the new session of Parliament. The move was surprising as Bahçeli is known for his staunch opposition to DEM’s very existence due to its links to the PKK, which killed thousands across Türkiye since the 1980s. It was also Bahçeli who called jailed ringleader of terrorist group Abdullah Öcalan to “come to the parliamentary group meeting of DEM and announce the dissolution of PKK.” Öcalan did not visit Parliament, but in a February message from the prison where he is held in the Marmara Sea, he made the historic call to the group.
Last week, the YPG, the PKK’s offshoot in Syria, had voiced its demand for “decentralized administration” in post-Assad Syria, triggering Ankara’s concerns. The U.S.-backed YPG carved out a so-called autonomous entity for itself immediately across the Turkish border and recently reached a deal with Syria’s new administration for “integration” into the post-Assad era. Bahçeli echoed concerns of the Turkish government, “on separatist demands” at the "convention" of YPG and associated groups in Syria’s Qamishli. “Decisions made there run against Syria’s political and territorial integrity. The Syrian administration naturally rejected these faulty demands seeking to exploit the current situation in Syria. However, the March 10 agreement between terrorist Mazloum Abdi and Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa is violated, due to the influence of external elements,” he said, using the alias of YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin.
Bahçeli called an end to this violation. “It is of vital importance that YPG abandons arms and integrates into the Syrian Arab Republic based on the predefined road map, for regional peace and the future of the region,” he said. Bahçeli also called DEM to oppose “this plot playing out in Qamishli.”
“The PKK should immediately hand over its weapons, convene its 'congress' for dissolution so that the terror-free Türkiye initiative will not be ‘infected’ (with the plot in Syria),” he said.
The MHP leader said the PKK should not ask for preconditions and remain loyal to the February call. “There is no other option or excuse,” he said.
Türkiye minimized the presence of PKK terrorists within its borders throughout intense counterterrorism campaigns, and the group’s senior cadres are holed up in the mountainous Qandil region in northern Iraq. On Sunday and Monday, five members of the Peshmerga security force of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which controls northern Iraq, were injured in attacks blamed on the PKK.
The KRG Security Council said in a statement on Tuesday that the attacks carried out by drones “aimed to disrupt the peace process and stability in the region.” The council said the attacks came “at a time of a peace process in Türkiye and a unity conference among Kurds in Syria,” as well as at a time of the formation of the new KRG Cabinet. “Some groups try to disrupt regional peace,” the statement said, vowing to respond to “any action to undermine it.”
