Flags adorned buildings across Türkiye, from the northwest to the southeast, as the PKK terrorist group took the first step to end its decades-old campaign of violence on Friday. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday hailed the first group of PKK members burning down their weapons in Iraq and called upon the public to hang Turkish flags on their homes and businesses to symbolize the beginning of a new era.
Public buildings were draped with flags on Sunday, just two days before another historic anniversary: Türkiye’s resistance against a 2016 coup attempt.
The beginning of the disarmament is warmly welcomed by the nation that suffered for years from terrorist attacks that have killed thousands since the 1980s. But it had a particularly special meaning for two groups of people: parents of the youth brainwashed to join the PKK and families of people killed in terror attacks.
Bedriye Uslu is among them. Uslu is part of “Diyarbakır Mothers,” a group of families who began a sit-in protest in the eponymous Turkish city in 2019 to protest the PKK’s recruitment of Kurdish youth. Hours after the first videos of PKK terrorists burning their weapons in Iraq emerged, Uslu spoke to Anadolu Agency (AA) and expressed her approval for the terror-free Türkiye initiative that led to the disarmament. She is among the mothers from 62 families staging the sit-in and joined them in the hope of a reunion with her son Mahmut, who left to join the PKK 14 years ago.
She thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and government ally Devlet Bahçeli, who informally launched the initiative last year when he called on the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, to convince his group to lay down arms.
“What happened in Iraq on Friday gave us hope. We hope all our children (who joined the PKK) will abandon their arms and burn them. I pray to Allah to see that day, to reunite with my son. We hope the tears of parents will end and everyone will be reunited with their children,” she said.
Nihat Aydın, who has taken part in the sit-in since it began for a reunion with his son Mehmet, said it was “symbolic” seeing 30 PKK members abandon arms, and it boosted their hope. “I hope my son will join them too,” he said.
Müslüme Topçu, whose soldier son Ahmet Topçu was killed in Operation Peace Spring against the PKK’s Syrian wing, echoed wishes for an end to terrorism.
Topçu told Sabah newspaper that her son was among the “thousands of sons who fell victim to terrorism.”
“We hope it will end now. We have high hopes for a terror-free Türkiye. May no other mother suffer from the loss of their children,” she said.
The PKK’s disarmament is also good news for Diyarbakır, a major city in the southeast with a large Kurdish population. Diyarbakır has been a hot spot of PKK terrorism, including the notorious “trench incidents” when the group’s members launched street attacks and dug “trenches” to confront the military between 2015 and 2016.
The province is known as the birthplace of the PKK, which recruited many to its ranks from Diyarbakır. Locals now hope that social peace will prevail in the province and that the economy will thrive.
Uğur Altınar, a shopkeeper in Diyarbakır’s historic Sur district, said they hoped more tourists would visit. Although at the heart of the southeastern region and boasting a rich history, Diyarbakır was shunned as a major tourism destination in the past due to heightened PKK activity, while other provinces in the region reaped the benefits of tourism.
“We will have more business, but more importantly, future generations will live in peace. I hope it will be good for the entire Türkiye,” Altınar told Ihlas News Agency (IHA) on Sunday.
Ali Baran Çelik, another business owner, said people who had second thoughts about Diyarbakır will “certainly visit the city now.” “It gives an opportunity for people from different parts of Türkiye to mingle with each other,” he said.
Associate professor Vahap Coşkun from Dicle University in Diyarbakır says Türkiye went through a critical threshold after the first group of PKK members laid down arms.
“This is a point of no return. We are in a new era where weapons are silenced, clashes have ended, and people can talk about their democratic demands. It will be good for everyone in Türkiye,” he said.
Mahmut Şimşek, head of the Diyarbakır-based NGO Social Consensus, said it has been more than 100 years since “people were united again,” referring to the War of Independence, in which Turks and Kurds fought together against invading forces.
“We need patience for the process to continue. It is too early to say that everything’s over after the first PKK group started abandoning arms. People should be well informed about this historic day. Regardless, they are witnessing the beauty of it. It has been more than 40 years, and for years, people cried over the graves of loved ones. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure social consensus and peace; every politician, every opinion leader has a responsibility to use this historic opportunity,” Şimşek told IHA.
Şahismail Bedirhanoğlu, who leads a chamber of industrialists and businesspeople in Diyarbakır, says an era was over and a new one began after Friday’s disarmament ceremony.
“We are excited that weapons and violence are out of the equation now. Those two things plagued the region, especially its economy. The future will belong to democratic politics and both Türkiye and the region will have a great momentum in terms of economy, democratization and political reforms. I hope the developments will be a blessing for our country,” he said.
