The terrorist group PKK’s announcement that it will withdraw from Türkiye was cautiously welcomed by Türkiye. Numan Kurtulmuş, the parliament speaker who also chairs a committee tackling the next steps in the process, says it is time to talk about democracy and ideas. Authorities, in the meantime, expect the group to abandon its positions in northern Iraq, especially in areas where Turkish troops are deployed for counterterrorism operations.
On Sunday, at the outskirts of the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq, a senior figure of the PKK showcased what he called the group’s members who left Türkiye as part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched last year. Sabri Ok has also implied that they would withdraw from regions near the Turkish border “to prevent provocations.” It is unclear when this will happen, but Turkish broadcaster A Haber released footage of some areas in Qandil once controlled by the PKK, indicating that terrorists abandoned their positions and “checkpoints” they set up on a major road leading to the mountain.
The PKK had taken the first step to end its more than 40-year campaign of terrorism in May, announcing it would dissolve itself. In July, the group held a ceremony in northern Iraq, with terrorists literally burning down their weapons on the path to complete dissolution. All these moves were a culmination of the initiative launched by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli. Bahçeli has called the group’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, to urge the PKK to lay down arms, and Öcalan has replied positively, making the said call in February.
The initiative is largely proceeding in secrecy, except for visits to Öcalan by the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and for regular meetings of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy committee, set up by Parliament to provide guidelines for the process.
The PKK insists on guarantees in return for dissolution, namely, leniency for convicted terrorists such as Öcalan, while Ankara repeatedly underlined that the initiative is unilateral and hinted that the PKK should dissolve itself unconditionally. Nevertheless, the parliamentary committee is expected to take steps to ensure the PKK would not abandon the initiative, including recommendations for new bills for the future of the PKK now as a disarmed group.
Kurtulmuş on Monday said no group can exist with “one armed hand and one hand seeking democracy.” “We hope those believing in (democracy) will not resort to weapons again and we do all we can to ensure this,” Kurtulmuş said at an event in the western province of Balıkesir.
He said the actions of the terrorist group were prevented with the efforts of “martyred heroes and veterans,” and the group was now in the process of complete dissolution. He highlighted that imperialist ambitions to divide Türkiye by sowing seeds of strife among “Turks, Kurds and Arabs” failed. The PKK claims to fight for the Kurds’ rights and self-rule for the community in southeastern Türkiye. “We are now at a point where Türkiye decided, in line with the circumstances of a new era, and we entered a new era where terrorism will no longer thwart Türkiye’s progress after the dissolution of the PKK,” he said.
Kurtulmuş hailed that Türkiye reached this point in just one year, while it took years for other countries involved in similar processes regarding terrorist groups.
“We hope that (the PKK) will fully dissolve itself outside our borders, including in Iraq, Syria, Iran and other regions,” Kurtulmuş added. The PKK’s Syria wing, the YPG, has earlier hinted that it won’t join the initiative. However, it signed a deal with Damascus for integration into Syrian security forces in the post-Assad era. Türkiye implied that a cross-border offensive may be carried out if the YPG fails to honor its deal with the Syrian Presidency.
The DEM Party also lauded the PKK’s withdrawal from Türkiye and branded it as a critical step, “completing the first phase” of the terror-free Türkiye initiative.
“This decision to withdraw is the most concrete expression of (the PKK’s) resolve on the path to peace,” DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan told reporters on Monday, describing it as “one of the most critical and significant steps.”
“At this point, the first phase of the (peace) process has concluded,” he said, urging the government to press ahead with the “critical and vital second phase … (of) legal and political steps.”
“Parliament must facilitate and develop this process. Legal arrangements must be put in place for the transition period. These will not only be technical arrangements, they will be the building blocks of peace,” he said.
A delegation of DEM Party lawmakers, who were tasked as messengers of Öcalan’s messages to the wider public and the PKK, will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday, the second such meeting in months.
A senior PKK leader said Sunday it was essential the parliamentary committee “immediately” meet Öcalan, echoing a similar demand by the DEM Party. The committee initially ruled out a meeting, though media reports say some members may meet with Öcalan, who was allowed visits for the first time in years, as part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative.
