The chair of a foundation of families who lost their relatives to decades of PKK terrorism and security officers injured in the fight against the group criticized politicians for undermining the terror-free initiative.
Lokman Aylar, who heads the Turkish Foundation of Veterans and Families of Martyrs, told reporters on Monday that nobody should resort to political maneuvers over the process of the initiative launched by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli.
Bahçeli last year urged the temporary release of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan so that he would make a call for the group to lay down arms. The initiative proceeded with lawmakers from a party linked to a terrorist group visiting Öcalan and conveying his support for the initiative. Bahçeli’s landmark call received support from several opposition parties, but some opposition politicians from the far-right stated that the People’s Alliance of MHP and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) should be ashamed of the initiative while thousands were martyred by the group since the 1980s.
Aylar, flanked by families of terror victims and veterans, said some “internal and external powers” attempted to exploit them for their own interests and those groups flatly opposed terror-free Türkiye. He also accused certain nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of inciting the public to take to the streets to oppose the initiative. “The state does not negotiate with terrorists. The only way is the dissolution of the terrorist groups. Any other discourse is purely conspiracy theory,” he said. His remarks echoed later statements of Bahçeli and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who insisted that this is not a bargain with the PKK. Both politicians have pledged that PKK should unilaterally lay down arms or face more counterterrorism operations. As the initiative proceeds, Turkish security forces continue operations against the PKK in Türkiye, as well as in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
The chairperson underlined that they would support every step the state would take for the terror-free Türkiye initiative. “Some politicians make statements inciting families of martyrs and veterans. We don’t want people who did not lose a family member to terrorism to speak on behalf of us. Terrorists hurt the people here including me, they killed our citizens, our soldiers. This terrorist group serving the interests of imperialists is the biggest obstacle to the development and peace of our country. It also committed to the treacherous act of making themselves synonymous with our Kurdish brothers,” Aylar said.
“Efforts to clear Türkiye of terrorism will be valuable for the history of mankind. It will prove to other countries that arms and murders cannot achieve political gain. It will be an example of how terrorist groups that serve as a tool for the interests of imperialists can be buried in history,” he added.
