The National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Committee will resume work on Tuesday. The committee, part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative for disarmament and dissolution of the terrorist group PKK, will host Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and head of National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Ibrahim Kalın.
This will be the second time ministers and the intelligence chief will brief the committee. Three officials are expected to inform lawmakers about the developments in the process since they first briefed the committee on Aug. 8.
The committee, tasked with charting a road map for the initiative after the disarmament, namely, legal amendments, delayed work for two weeks, first due to unspecified “technical reasons” and then, the deaths of 20 Turkish soldiers in a plane crash on the Azerbaijan-Georgia border recently.
Yerlikaya, Güler and Kalın will explain developments regarding the initiative in the committee’s next session, although it is likely that it would be a closed-to-press session, unlike earlier ones. In October, the PKK announced it withdrew from Türkiye, in a landmark development in the initiative. The initiative, so far, proceeded with unilateral moves of the PKK, which announced its dissolution last May and started “burning down weapons” in a symbolic ceremony in Iraq this summer. Turkish authorities have been secretive about Ankara’s moves in response to the PKK’s disarmament, citing the sensitive nature of the process that aims to end more than 40 years of violence by the terrorist group.
The committee, comprised of lawmakers from ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and most major opposition parties except the Good Party (IP), convened for the first time on Aug. 5. In the subsequent sessions, it hosted ministers, top officials, families of people killed by the PKK, as well as families of PKK members, academics, veteran politicians, representatives of nonprofit organizations active in the southeast where PKK terrorism dealt a heavy toll on daily life for decades.
The committee’s chair and Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş told journalists last week that Türkiye was not involved in any bargain with the PKK. Kurtulmuş described their work at the committee as a “process by Parliament to carefully monitor developments regarding (the initiative) that began with the terrorist group’s declaration to lay down arms.” “It is not a peace process between Turks and Kurds,” he said, opposing the portrayal of the initiative in that framework. The PKK was born under the pretext of fighting for Kurdish rights in the late 1970s. Several governments tried to eliminate this pretext by reaching out to the community by boosting their rights, though the PKK adhered to violence. This latest initiative, launched by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), is also framed as a way to solidify Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood in the face of external threats against Türkiye’s unity. Yet, officials insist that the state will not take any steps in response to the PKK’s dissolution until the group completely abandons weapons and ceases its campaign of terrorism, which claimed tens of thousands of lives over the past few decades.
Kurtulmuş said last week that the committee would draft a “report” after it wraps up its work, “hopefully in the near future.” “We hope this report will be presented to Parliament’s general assembly and we will conclude this process without any problems,” he said.
Kurtulmuş’s remarks came amid reports that Türkiye is preparing a law to let thousands of PKK members return home from hideouts in northern Iraq under the initiative.
So far, the PKK's disarmament process has been unilateral, although the terrorist group and its supporters have repeatedly called for moves from the state, such as an amnesty for PKK members. Turkish authorities rule out a general amnesty but signalled a leniency may be granted to imprisoned members of the PKK.
The proposed law would protect those returning home but stop short of offering a general amnesty for crimes committed by the terrorists, Reuters reported last week. Some terrorist leaders could be sent to third countries under the plans.
Bringing PKK terrorists and their families home from their bases in mountainous northern Iraq is seen as one of the final hurdles in the initiative.
The sources disclosed details that have not been previously reported, Reuters said, including proposals for returns to take place in separate waves of civilians and terrorists, and for commanders to be sent to third countries.
