A seminal committee will gather for the terror-free Türkiye initiative on Tuesday. Comprising several political parties represented in Parliament, the committee will weigh the future of the initiative involving the disarmament of the terrorist group PKK.
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş will chair the first meeting of the committee, which will initially debate its principles and working methods. After an opening speech by Kurtulmuş, lawmakers will voice their opinions on the committee and the initiative.
The committee’s members include parliamentarians from ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), New Path bloc, Türkiye Labor Party (TIP), Labor Party (EMEP), New Welfare Party (YRP), Democratic Left Party (DSP), Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR) and Democrat Party (DP).
The MHP’s leader, Devlet Bahçeli, is the informal architect of the initiative that began with his call to the PKK’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, last year to urge his group to lay down arms.
The initiative surprised many at first as it was commenced by an unexpected name who is known for his staunch support for strict counterterrorism efforts to wipe out the PKK. Bahçeli has reasoned that the PKK’s dissolution is a must to reinforce unity in Türkiye at a time of Israeli expansionism that also threatens Türkiye. The PKK’s longtime goal has been carving out a so-called Kurdistan in the southeast and it exploited the Kurdish community of the country, who were deprived of some fundamental rights in the past. Bahçeli and AK Party Chair President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeatedly emphasized Turkish-Kurdish unity as key to the future of the country against any separatist agendas.
A recent survey conducted by polling company ASAL earlier this month shows that more than 61% support the initiative. The initiative is not without its opponents and skeptics. The CHP endorses the initiative but expresses reservations about its success. The far-right Good Party (IP) flatly opposed it and plans to hold nationwide “First Duty” rallies to voice its opposition. Inspired by the first sentence of a famous address to Turkish youth by the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the rallies aim to sway public opinion against the initiative.
The DEM Party is a key actor in the initiative due to its links to the PKK, and its lawmakers served as messengers between Öcalan and political parties during the initiative’s first stages. The DEM Party's deputy parliamentary group chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, who is part of the committee, said on Monday that all parties should participate in the committee. Koçyiğit stated at a news conference at Parliament that the committee’s name was now up for debate, but they would likely favor a name reportedly proposed by Kurtulmuş: "the Committee for Social Solidarity, Fraternity and Democracy." Koçyiğit said the process at the committee should be “transparent,” although she acknowledged that some parts of the sessions may need to be closed to the media due to the sensitive nature of the initiative. “It is crucial to explain it to the public,” she underlined.
In May, the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Türkiye, the U.S., the U.K. and the EU, announced its dissolution and the end of its four-decade terror campaign that cost tens of thousands of lives in Türkiye, as well as in Iraq and Syria.
Most recently, in a ceremony across the border in Iraq last month, PKK members destroyed their weapons as part of the process. Turkish intelligence monitors the process.
The committee’s work will concentrate on the state of PKK terrorists who abandoned arms and those who were incarcerated for aiding and abetting the PKK. The PKK is still regarded as a terrorist group and the committee will likely debate about its future status once the group entirely abandons arms.
Media reports indicate that the committee will chart a roadmap for the initiative and discuss regulations and amendments to accelerate it, including those similar to the “Homecoming Law” implemented in 2003, which offered lenient sentences for PKK members not involved in terror attacks. The committee’s work will serve as a guideline for future bills on terrorism.
