Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said on Wednesday that it was time for the PKK terrorist group to start its disarmament and that Ankara expects it to happen “very soon.”
“This process will have concrete results in the field, but it may take more time,” he added, referring to the terror-free Türkiye initiative.
Yılmaz’s remarks came ahead of a statement attributed to the terrorist group on Thursday. The PKK said a group of its members would “come down from the mountains and will bid farewell to their arms to declare their goodwill for peace and democratic politics.”
The ceremony is expected to take place between July 10 and July 12, most likely in Sulaymaniyah, a city in northern Iraq under the control of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Government ally Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), launched a terror-free initiative last year with a daring call to the PKK to lay down arms, at the cost of alienating more hawkish nationalists who advocate more strict counterterrorism efforts to wipe out the PKK. The initiative is endorsed by the government, and the group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, consented to make a call to the group to abandon arms in February. Months later, the PKK announced it would dissolve itself, but it was unclear when it would physically hand over weapons to the authorities in Iraq, as media outlets reported. Turkish intelligence will reportedly oversee the disarmament process, although authorities have been tight-lipped about how the initiative will proceed.
Yılmaz told broadcaster NTV that they were at a “historic” stage in the fight against terrorism, and the PKK’s decision to dissolve itself was very significant. Yılmaz urged all political parties to contribute to the current process.
“This is a national matter, so the contribution of parties will help the process move forward healthily. This will not happen overnight, but a mechanism will be in place for monitoring the process. It will be meticulously monitored. We are at a positive point. The process is continuing as it is expected to move forward,” he said.
A KRG official, who spoke to The Associated Press (AP) on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said around 40 PKK members are expected to hand over their light weapons to the regional government.
The regional government is dominated by two parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The KDP oversees the regional capital, Irbil, and the city of Dohuk. The PUK governs Sulaymaniyah.
The KDP has good relations with Türkiye and has been at odds with the PKK, while the PUK is closer to the PKK.
Ömer Çelik, a spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), said the PKK could begin handing over arms "within days," but did not provide details. Çelik added that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would meet with members of the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) next week to discuss the initiative. DEM's spokesperson, Ayşegül Doğan, told a news conference on Thursday that the PKK will likely lay down arms next week, somewhere in the KRG-administered region of Iraq. She said Abdullah Öcalan would issue a message related to the process before the historic move.
The PKK has long maintained hideouts in the mountains of northern Iraq. Turkish forces have launched offensives and airstrikes against the PKK in Iraq and have set up bases in the area.
The Iraqi government in Baghdad last year announced an official ban on the separatist group, which has long been prohibited in Türkiye.
