Chairing the latest session of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Committee on Thursday, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş called on everyone, from politicians to the media, to choose their words carefully as the country seeks to wrap up the terror-free Türkiye plan.
The committee, set up exclusively for the initiative, came together in Ankara to discuss a recent visit to the terrorist group PKK’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan. It is tasked with issuing guidelines for Parliament to advance the initiative.
The initiative, conceived by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, involves the disarmament of the PKK, whose attacks claimed thousands of lives since the 1980s. Bahçeli proposed that Öcalan urge his group to lay down arms last year. Öcalan complied and made a historic call from prison to the PKK. The PKK announced its dissolution last spring, but the full disarmament process is still incomplete.
Fearing it may collapse, authorities proceed with caution about the initiative. PKK terrorism is a sensitive issue for the country, which has suffered heavily from attacks, especially for the victims of terrorism. It also bears the potential of hurting the unity between Turks and Kurds. The PKK managed to manipulate some members of the Kurdish community to join its cause to carve out a so-called “Kurdistan” in southeastern Türkiye. Proponents of the initiative advocate that reinforcing Turkish-Kurdish unity may eliminate the PKK’s raison d’etre, something that has been difficult to achieve so far.
“We are entering days when we must think a hundred times before speaking – even a thousand. First and foremost, no one should turn this process, now entering its most sensitive phase, into material for political positioning. We all have different political ideas, different parties, different perspectives and convictions. But we surely share a common point: In this country, weapons must fall silent, terrorism must end, mothers must stop mourning, homes must not be shattered and the nation’s future must not be handed over to dark forces,” he said.
“This is not a bargaining process, not a negotiation. After the terrorist group declared its decision to dissolve itself and began the process of laying down arms with a symbolic ceremony, the process accelerated. Politics, for its part, fulfilled its responsibility: With the support of 11 parties represented in the Turkish Grand National Assembly, this commission was formed and has brought us to where we are today,” he added.
