Anticipation is high that a major threat to Türkiye may finally subside, and a fragmented social unity can be mended. This week, the PKK terrorist group, which exploited Kurdish rights for decades and killed thousands across the country, is expected to lay down arms.
Time will tell how this stage of the “terror-free Türkiye” initiative will hold up, but it will be the first time for the PKK to literally abandon arms after a brief, so-called truce it declared more than a decade ago, only to resume a campaign of violence with more intensity.
Developments confirm that the initiative, launched by a government ally last year, is moving forward to disarmament.
A delegation from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) went to meet PKK jailed ringleader Abdullah Öcalan on Sunday ahead of expected disarmament. It is the sixth visit to Öcalan in less than one year. For years, he was not allowed to receive visitors. Authorities eased his conditions after the terror-free Türkiye initiative began, and since then, he has mainly held talks with delegations from the DEM Party and his relatives, including his nephew Ömer Öcalan, himself a DEM Party lawmaker.
Lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar traveled with lawyer Özgür Faik Erol to Imralı prison island near Istanbul, where Öcalan has been serving a sentence since 1999, a DEM Party statement said.
The talks came ahead of a planned ceremony by PKK members in a northern Iraqi region controlled by Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). At the ceremony, expected to be held on or around July 10-12, terrorists are expected to destroy the first tranche of weapons, either by burning them or burying them in a symbolic gesture. The exact location of the ceremony has not been confirmed, but the DEM Party said in an earlier statement that several journalists would be invited to the event. The symbolic disarmament, which comes about two months afterthe PKK announced it would dissolve itself, will likely follow a DEM Party delegation meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In February, Öcalan urged the PKK to disband. The historic call was a product of the initiative that was shaped after Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, a government ally, urged authorities to let Öcalan speak at Parliament and make the said call. Instead, Öcalan made the call through statements conveyed by a DEM party delegation at a news conference in Istanbul.
President Erdoğan’s remarks, published on Saturday reflect progress in the initiative. Answering reporters’ questions during a return flight from Azerbaijan, Erdoğan said they had faith in achieving their terror-free Türkiye goal. “We fulfilled many wishes of our nations. This dream that will reinforce our brotherhood, cement our home front and accelerate the march of civilization will also come true. Steps for terror-free Türkiye are being taken gradually, in a controlled manner,” Erdoğan said.
The president underlined that Türkiye’s stance has been clear since the beginning: “Disarmament should be unconditional and the group should dissolve itself fully.”
“Step by step, we arrived at this stage. Once the terrorist group started putting disarmament into practice, the process would gain momentum,” he said.
Counterterrorism efforts since the 1980s have taken a heavy toll on the Turkish economy, while southeastern regions plagued by terrorism saw their economic growth stunted. The PKK’s actions also hindered Türkiye’s border security, especially with the rise of the group’s Syria wing during the civil war there.
“Once bloodshed and tears end, once the weapons disappear, we will turn a new page for the future. Relevant agencies monitor every step in the initiative and take necessary steps. We won’t allow it to continue on its own and will not allow provocations,” Erdoğan said.
The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) is assigned to monitor the disarmament in coordination with authorities in Iraq and Syria, according to media reports. MIT chief Ibrahim Kalın was in northern Iraq last week, where he met local officials, shortly before a visit to Turkish military units deployed on the Turkish-Iraqi border to monitor the group’s activities.
The initiative was largely endorsed by the opposition as Parliament is expected to form a committee to oversee it in the coming days. However, some far-right politicians opposed the move, claiming it was a concession to the terrorist group. Authorities insist that any conditions set by the PKK would not be accepted, and terrorists deciding to surrender and return to Türkiye would be tried under existing laws. Counterterrorism laws offer lenient sentences for PKK members not involved in attacks or other crimes. The PKK’s senior cadres, in the meantime, are expected to leave for third countries after the dissolution.
Erdoğan affirmed his upcoming meeting with a DEM Party delegation consisting of lawmakers Buldan and Sancar, adding that Kalın and Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) Deputy Chair Efkan Ala would accompany him at the meeting. Ala, a former interior minister, was instrumental in overseeing the “reconciliation process” to end PKK terrorism more than a decade ago. This process, which involved granting more rights to the Kurdish community to end the PKK’s dominance and exploitation over it, ultimately failed when the terrorist group resumed deadly attacks against security forces, apparently strengthening itself during its so-called “truce.” Erdoğan is expected to receive the DEM Party delegation on Monday, a report on Sunday said.
“Disarmament of the PKK terrorist group will be the beginning of a new era for Türkiye in terms of security, democracy and development,” Erdoğan said, adding that Ankara would continue the initiative. The president said the DEM Party and the People’s Alliance the AK Party formed with the MHP agreed to build a road map on how to build a terror-free Türkiye.
