Ömer Çelik, spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), told reporters on Sunday that it would take merely days before Parliament would set up a committee on the terror-free Türkiye initiative.
The committee is essential for a legal framework of the initiative that accomplished more than half of what it set out to with the first group of terrorist group PKK members abandoning their arms on Friday. Friday’s disarmament ceremony in northern Iraq was a historic turning point in Türkiye’s fight against terrorism for more than 40 years.
The initiative launched by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) last year is expected to proceed with full disarmament of the PKK and steps to formally end its existence. The terrorist group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, and other actors in the initiative have underlined that a parliamentary committee was a necessity for the terror-free Türkiye plan they often refer to as a “peace process.” The committee is supposed to tackle the future of disarmed PKK members and address the fate of imprisoned terrorists.
Çelik was among AK Party members who joined President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the party’s traditional “consultation camp” in Ankara’s Kızılcahamam district that began on Friday. He said that the party discussed everything “from security to justice” during the meetings and noted that Erdoğan’s speech on Saturday in Kızılcahamam had global repercussions, referring to the president’s description of the process as a new era. “Terrorism will end,” Çelik told reporters. He added that the disarmament should continue without interruption. “All wings of the PKK should lay down arms and cease to exist,” he said. The PKK has wings in Iran and Syria, while the first stage of disarmament is expected to involve groups in Iraq.
The spokesperson said previous governments also sought to disarm the PKK, noting that the state pursued both military means and soft power to address the issue. He underlined that the disarmament was not a result of “a bargain between the state and the PKK.” “Türkiye’s power in counterterrorism is clear. This is simply a work to end terrorism to dominate the agenda in Türkiye. We are open to criticism but you should not accuse others of treason while criticizing them,” he said, in reference to some opposition parties’ criticism of the initiative.
“Efforts will continue. By Allah’s will, full disarmament will happen within a few months,” Çelik noted.
