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The terror-free Türkiye initiative, launched last year for the dissolution of the terrorist group PKK, is a priority for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). The party devoted its summer schedule to explaining the initiative better to the public. Both ministers and senior members of the party mobilized to that extent, touring 81 provinces and meeting citizens and, particularly, families of people killed by the PKK and counterterrorism veterans.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had earlier penned a letter to those families and veterans, seeking to reassure them about the necessity of the initiative. Critics of the initiative seek to brand it as a betrayal of the memory of those killed by the PKK since the 1980s, but this propaganda apparently backfired as most associations representing families of martyrs and veterans voiced endorsement for terror-free Türkiye.
Tuğba Işık Ercan, head of the AK Party’s women’s branch, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Wednesday that they aimed to reach out to about 20,000 families of martyrs by the end of September, delivering them letters and a message from the AK Party on the initiative.
The initiative is the brainchild of Devlet Bahçeli, head of government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The government facilitated the initiative after Bahçeli’s call to the PKK’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, to urge his group to dissolve. Turkish intelligence now monitors the current stage of the initiative, which took a new turn after PKK members started abandoning arms at a ceremony in northern Iraq.
The women’s branch of the AK Party spearheads efforts to deliver letters and visit families, explaining the initiative. Ercan said they did not encounter any negative reaction to the initiative during their field trips. “On the contrary, families, and mothers especially, say, ‘Our hearts have been broken; we don’t want other mothers to suffer the same pain,’” she said.
The PKK killed thousands of people in its violent campaign for more than four decades. Its attacks began in the countryside in southeastern Türkiye before spreading to big cities in the west. Among the terrorist group’s victims are civil servants working in the southeastern and eastern Türkiye, security personnel, as well as civilians, whom the group viewed as collaborating with authorities. The group’s indiscriminate attacks claiming civilian lives accumulated public outrage over the years, and the state has long followed policies strictly involving constant military and police operations to wipe out the group.
“We, of course, emphasize how sensitive we are about this issue. We have not done – and will never do – anything that would disturb the souls of our martyrs or veterans or cause them any distressing feelings. The guarantee for this comes from our president, all government members, our organization and our party,” Ercan said.
During their visits, Ercan noted that those who seek to create misconceptions about the initiative often target families of martyrs and veterans. However, by meeting repeatedly with these families, they have been able to address and alleviate their concerns.
Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, minister of Family and Social Services, told reporters that martyrs and veterans brought Türkiye to the current point in a terror-free initiative and they would always support them and their families.
Göktaş accompanied the families and veterans on Aug. 19 as a parliamentary committee established to tackle the next steps in the initiative hosted them. “At Parliament, we had the opportunity to voice the demands of families regarding the initiative. This is a process we will jointly build upon,” she said. “This is a social process and should not be merely viewed as a matter of security. It should be considered together with its cultural, sociological and psychological aspects. Our goal is to reach its target healthily and stave off disinformation while keeping our unity,” she said at an event in the capital Ankara on Wednesday.
Öcalan’s call
The initiative currently moves forward quietly, except for regular sessions of the parliamentary committee that aims to chart a road map for the future of the PKK.
Pervin Buldan, a lawmaker from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) linked to the terrorist group, was quoted as saying on Wednesday that the committee should also hear Öcalan. Buldan, a member of a DEM Party delegation who conveyed Öcalan’s messages to the public and Parliament as part of the initiative, said in an interview with a media outlet linked to the PKK that the committee should visit Öcalan. “He is the primary actor in this process,” Buldan reasoned. She said Öcalan was keen on a meeting and told them earlier that he had “a lot to say” to the committee.
Öcalan had the same enthusiasm when he was captured in Kenya in 1999 and brought to Türkiye. During his trial on terrorism charges, the PKK’s leader had expressed willingness to collaborate with authorities for “peace” between the state and the PKK.
