President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Türkiye has pushed terrorism in Iraq and Syria away from its borders as it aims to create a lasting security environment in the region.
Speaking at an iftar dinner with security forces in Ankara, Erdoğan highlighted Türkiye's effective fight against terrorism, as he praised the work of security forces.
President Erdoğan stated that Türkiye has always taken new and correct steps, saying, "Thanks to the operations of our security forces, terrorism within our borders is nearing its end."
He noted that Ankara must be ready for all possibilities and guide regional developments in a way that serves Türkiye's interests.
Öcalan made a historic call last month to urge the PKK to lay down arms and dissolve.
The group appears to be accommodating the call, at least partially, as it pledged to stop the attacks targeting Türkiye by declaring a “cease-fire.” The PKK said in a statement that it would heed the call by Öcalan, though there appeared to be a set of conditions. The group’s “executive committee,” quoted by a pro-PKK media outlet, said they declared a cease-fire starting last Saturday “to pave the way for the call for a peaceful and democratic society.”
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, has mounted a campaign of violence since 1984 to carve out autonomy for the Kurdish community. The group saw both support and strict opposition from the Kurds it claimed to fight for. Some joined the PKK, while others sided with Türkiye, even forming “village guard” forces to fight terrorists actively. Since Öcalan was captured in Kenya and jailed in 1999, there have been various attempts to end the PKK terrorism that has claimed more than 40,000 lives over decades. The attempts are now broadly called the “reconciliation process,” which have been carried out both in secrecy and publicly through politicians close to the group and state representatives. The process failed sometime in 2015 after the PKK ended its unilateral “cease-fire” back then while Türkiye, in response, escalated counterterrorism operations.
Counterterrorism operations were also expanded in scope and saw more airstrikes, ground offensives and other military action in Türkiye, Iraq and Syria, three countries with a substantial presence of terrorists.
The new “terror-free Türkiye” initiative was launched last year by government ally Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Risking political support, Bahçeli urged the government to pave the way to allow Öcalan to make a call to his terrorist group to dissolve itself. He also courted representatives of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), to which he has been openly hostile in the past for the latter’s links to the terrorist group.
Referring to Syria, the president said 873,000 Syrians in Türkiye have safely returned to their homeland.
"As order and stability strengthen in Syria, this number will continue to grow," he said.
The study showed that 45.5% of Syrians are willing to return home if the situation in Syria improves, while 26.7% are eager to go back "as soon as possible."
The survey also said 66.7% of Syrians expressed willingness to contribute to the reconstruction of Syria by working.
Türkiye has taken in more Syrian refugees than any other nation – more than 3.8 million at its peak in 2022, or roughly 60% of all the Syrians logged by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, with most arriving since 2011 as a result of civil war that broke out the same year.
Since an alliance of anti-regime fighters led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled Assad almost two weeks ago, at least 7,000 Syrian refugees have flocked to the border crossing gates in southern Türkiye to return home quickly.
