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As Türkiye hopes for a conclusion to the terror-free Türkiye initiative for disarmament of the terrorist group PKK, the number of surrendering terrorists is promising.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 103 members of the terrorist group, including 10 children of the Diyarbakır Mothers, surrendered in 2025 after being persuaded to return from abroad.
Colloquially known as “Diyarbakır Mothers,” women protesting the PKK, which brainwashed their children to join the terrorist group, marked seven years of their sit-in in southeastern Türkiye in September.
The protest later spread to other cities, but the largest demonstration remained where it began, outside the local offices of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in the province of Diyarbakır. The HDP is linked to the PKK, and the mothers say the party helped the terrorist group reach their children. The HDP later dissolved and evolved into the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), now part of the terror-free Türkiye initiative. The protests, carried out alternately by 384 families, have so far reunited 62 families with their children.
Speaking at the 2025 Assessment Meeting held at the Gendarmerie General Command in Ankara, Yerlikaya detailed ongoing security operations in areas under the gendarmerie’s jurisdiction. He said more than 216,000 gendarmerie personnel are working to maintain peace and public safety.
“Our Gendarmerie General Command, with its 216,000 personnel, ensures the security of more than 17 million citizens across a responsibility area of 728,000 square kilometers,” he said.
Yerlikaya said efforts toward a terror-free Türkiye are continuing.
“As the ministry, we are both supporting the construction of a terror-free Türkiye and maintaining public order and security in the field without compromise,” he said. “To prevent any interruption in this process, we continue our search and sweep operations in rural areas without pause.”
He said security forces conducted 91 land operations in 2025, 14 large-scale and 77 mid-level. As part of these efforts against the PKK, 306 caves and shelters were destroyed, and authorities seized 3,442 kilograms (7,588 pounds) of explosives, 403 weapons and 45,465 rounds of ammunition. Unmanned aerial vehicles and reconnaissance aircraft logged 43,193 flight hours during this period. PKK has recently announced its withdrawal from Türkiye, where terrorists used to hide in caves, especially in rural parts of eastern Türkiye.
Speaking at the same meeting, Gen. Ali Çardakcı, commander of the Gendarmerie General Command, said the government’s terror-free Türkiye goal, advanced under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s leadership, has become a tangible reality in the field as part of ongoing counterterrorism operations.
Çardakcı said the current picture was made possible by the sacrifices of fallen soldiers and veterans, as well as the security forces who have choked off terrorism in the mountains, cities and along the borders. He also credited the rapid transfer of newly developed defense capabilities to front line units.
“On this occasion, I pray for God’s mercy on all our martyrs who gave their lives for the unity and integrity of our nation, and I wish a swift recovery to our veterans,” he said. “I also thank everyone who contributed to equipping our security forces with the capabilities developed in our defense industry,” Çardakcı said. The current stage marks a period in which terrorist groups can no longer find shelter, their logistical networks have collapsed and their financial resources have been cut off.
“We recognize the magnitude of this goal and the heavy price paid, and we aim to make these gains permanent,” he said. “As part of our 2026 counterterrorism efforts, we will have three priorities: clearing areas liberated from terrorism, maintaining uninterrupted control of the terrain, and eliminating the financial sources of terrorism. Our aim is to make a peaceful, terror-free Türkiye permanent.”
The terror-free Türkiye initiative launched by Devlet Bahçeli, chair of government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), took a new turn last month when a group of lawmakers agreed to visit PKK ringleader Abdullah Öcalan in the island prison where he was incarcerated. It was Bahçeli who urged lawmakers to hold talks with Öcalan in a recent speech and volunteered to go by himself if no one else did. The National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Committee of Parliament, set up last August to chart a road map for the initiative, approved the call. Three parties in the committee abstained from the visit. Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the MHP and pro-PKK DEM Party sent lawmakers to meet Öcalan.
The terror-free Türkiye initiative took several critical turns after Öcalan’s written statement in February calling for the dissolution of the PKK. The terrorist group announced it would heed Öcalan’s call last spring and started “burning weapons” in a ceremony in Iraq this summer. This month, it announced it had withdrawn from Zap, a former stronghold of terrorists in northern Iraq. This move was preceded by an October announcement that said the PKK withdrew all its members from Türkiye to Iraq.
