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As the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) continues its nationwide campaign to explain the terror-free Türkiye initiative to the public, the party’s spokesperson Ömer Çelik hailed it as a future starting point for a “terror-free region.”
Çelik was in the northwestern province of Kocaeli on Sunday for the campaign and described the initiative as a “strategic, correct step, a response to imperialist designs and attempts to destabilize Türkiye.”
The initiative was launched last year by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) when its leader, Devlet Bahçeli, implied that the government should facilitate access to the PKK’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, so that he could call the PKK to lay down arms. Bahçeli’s proposal was endorsed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who had earlier hinted at the initiative with messages of unity between Turks and Kurds. The PKK has long justified its campaign of terrorism as a fight for the rights of Kurds. Both Bahçeli and Erdoğan repeatedly said that ending terrorism and maintaining unity were essential for Türkiye’s “home front” in the face of Israeli aggression in the region, pointing to the fact that Israel may target Türkiye next as part of its expansionist policies.
The government and MHP portray the initiative as a process beyond politics and seek wider public support. They managed to include several opposition parties in a parliamentary committee that began work in August to tackle the initiative and prepare a road map for legislators in the next stage. Çelik told reporters that the initiative became a state policy and would be referenced in efforts for a terror-free region. Although the PKK began laying down arms in July, the complete disarmament is expected to wrap up by the end of 2025, while it is still unclear whether its Syrian wing, the YPG, would follow.
Çelik said Türkiye exerted its own will against evil plans and ruled out any bargain or negotiation with the PKK “about the state or values of the nation,” he said. This is an oft-emphasized fact by authorities and the PKK itself did not reveal any negotiation in return for disarmament so far. “This is a development for the benefit of everyone,” Çelik said.
The spokesperson said Türkiye viewed all ethnic and sectarian elements in the country as brothers and sisters while “those seeking to pit people against each other in our region view them as their colony.” “It is clear that anyone seeking a delay in disarmament is aligned with imperialist Zionism. But we are well trained against such sabotage attempts and we know what they aim for,” he said. Çelik said certain powers sought to destabilize neighboring Syria and promised autonomy for certain circles, “obviously not for the good of those circles,” he said. He was referring to the YPG, which carved out a self-styled autonomy in northeastern Syria and empowered itself with the military assistance of Türkiye’s NATO ally, the United States. The U.S. regularly provided military equipment to the YPG under the guise of fighting against the terrorist group Daesh over the past decade. Although the YPG signed a deal with the new administration that came to power last December in Syria for integration into the Syrian army, it insists on “decentralization” in the country, clinging to its autonomy claims. “They are trying to lay down ethnic, sectarian fault lines,” Çelik warned.
DEM’s push for Öcalan
The initiative will move forward when the terror-free Türkiye committee of Parliament convenes in the coming weeks, following several sessions. The beginning of the new legislative year at Parliament in October may also speed up the process with reports of new regulations on the initiative emerging in the Turkish media.
The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), linked to the PKK, meanwhile, presses for concessions in the initiative, namely, a direct communication between the parliamentary committee it is a part of and Öcalan, who is serving several life sentences in an island prison off Istanbul. The party and PKK had earlier sought easing confinement conditions of Öcalan, who was rarely allowed to have visits before the start of the initiative. Since then, Öcalan has had plenty of visitors, including his relatives and a DEM Party delegation conveying his messages.
Tülay Hatimoğulları, co-chair of the DEM Party, told a news conference in Ankara on Sunday that Öcalan was the “chief actor” in the initiative. “If we want peace and a solution, it is essential to hold talks with Öcalan. We call upon the committee to act bravely, shed their prejudice and visit him,” she said.
Öcalan is among the most hated figures in Türkiye and is blamed for the killings of tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. A meeting between Öcalan and parliamentarians other than DEM Party lawmakers who relayed his messages earlier may fuel allegations of a bargain with the PKK. Bahçeli, who earlier had called for a “right of hope” for Öcalan, that is, the possibility of being eligible for parole in the future, rarely mentioned it again. Yet, the DEM Party insists on it. Hatimoğulları reiterated this demand and said the parliamentary committee should hold an emergency meeting on it. “We cannot afford to delay this,” she said. “Öcalan needs conditions allowing him to work freely,” she added.
