Defense Minister Yaşar Güler on Thursday called on the PKK terrorist group and all its affiliates to comply with dissolution directives as the Turkish Parliament continued deliberations on the Defense Ministry’s 2026 budget.
Speaking during the session at the parliament, Güler said the government’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative can only advance if all PKK-linked entities adhere to the process.
“For the process to function in a healthy way, the PKK and all groups associated with it must abide by the dissolution call,” Güler said.
Earlier on Thursday, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) of the People’s Alliance presented a report on the terror-free Türkiye initiative to the office of the parliament speaker.
The committee is expected to wrap up work by the end of this year after hearing from a diverse array of people, from academics and ministers to families of terror victims, as well as families of PKK terrorist group members. The initiative involves disarming the terrorist group, but so far, it has been unilateral, while authorities rejected claims of negotiations with the group.
The PKK announced it was abandoning weapons during a ceremony last summer, and Turkish authorities monitor the process in Iraq, where the group’s senior leadership is hiding out in a mountainous region.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, MHP Deputy Chair Feti Yıldız said the report mainly consists of a political assessment as well as legal steps that may be taken to advance the process. Authorities say regulations or laws could be needed, especially for changing the status of the PKK, designated as a terrorist group, if it fully disarms itself, and for the fate of PKK members. Bahçeli and the government are tight-lipped on the next steps, but it may involve a limited amnesty for PKK members not involved in any acts of violence.
