Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), expressed concerns about the existence of the U.S.-backed YPG terrorist group in Syria. In a speech at his party’s parliamentary group meeting in Ankara on Tuesday, Bahçeli, who proposed the terror-free Türkiye initiative almost one year ago, said the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, should make a new call for the YPG to abandon arms.
Last February, Öcalan made an unprecedented call to his terrorist group through a delegation and urged them to dissolve. The PKK affirmed and, in July, started burning weapons in a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq. The YPG has turned a blind eye to the call, downplaying its links to the PKK. The YPG stuck to its guns, so to speak, to the chagrin of Ankara and Damascus, which seeks to integrate the group into the post-Assad Syrian army.
Bahçeli said the terror-free Türkiye initiative was a national, historical goal and a state policy. “Its ultimate goal is ending the seeds of strife imperialists sought to sow between Turks and Kurds and removing barriers between our sacred brotherhood. But as long as weapons are there, politics should not be talked about. Weapons should be burned if politics prevail,” he said.
The PKK has long claimed to fight for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Türkiye and branded itself as a political party that took up an armed struggle against the state of Türkiye. Its campaign of violence since the 1980s has claimed tens of thousands of lives across the country.
The MHP leader said the PKK’s founder took a risk, but the YPG still did not abandon arms. “Whereas (Öcalan’s) call covers all elements of a separatist terrorist group. The PKK’s founder should issue another call and urge YPG to adhere to the March 10 deal,” he said, referring to an agreement between the YPG and Damascus for the former’s integration into Syrian security forces.
The terror-free Türkiye initiative took another turn in August when the Turkish Parliament set up the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Committee to tackle the matter. The committee, composed of lawmakers from the ruling party and opposition parties, heard from academics, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, families of terror victims and PKK members. It will provide recommendations to Parliament for legislation to move the process forward. Bahçeli said lawmakers from the committee should visit Imralı island prison near Istanbul to meet Öcalan, “to hear his messages firsthand and share them with the public.”
