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The next session of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Committee of the Parliament will be convened on Tuesday in Ankara. The committee, which aims to move forward with the terror-free Türkiye initiative involving disarmament of the terrorist group PKK, had a significant group of guests: families of people killed in PKK attacks and veterans of security forces maimed in counterterrorism operations and attacks. This fourth session of the committee differed from earlier ones in that civilians, as well as nongovernmental actors involved in the initiative, were given a voice. Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş also attended the committee’s meeting.
Assuring the families that suffered most from the PKK is key for officials overseeing the process, as opponents of the initiative propagandize that the state bargained with the PKK for disarmament and brand it as a betrayal of those families and veterans.
Addressing the opening of the new session, Parliamentary Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş once again reiterated that Türkiye did not negotiate with the PKK to convince it to lay down arms and will not, in the future. He also warned that certain circles might attempt to undermine the process.
Kurtulmuş said Türkiye owed “each martyr and their families” and hailed how resilient they had been, as well as how proud they had been of their sacrifices. Since the 1980s, the PKK has killed thousands of people, particularly in southeastern Türkiye, in terror attacks targeting security personnel as well as civilians. At the height of its campaign in the 1990s, the terrorist group often ambushed soldiers in mountainous territories in the southeast and, despite intensified counterterrorism operations, continued its attacks well into the early 2000s. Its attacks relatively decreased after the capture of its leader, Abdullah Öcalan, in 1999, but it remained a significant threat to the country.
The speaker stated that Türkiye never offered anything to the PKK in return for disarmament, adding that Parliament would also not be involved in any bargain. “We will merely fulfill our responsibility to cement our lasting brotherhood,” he said, referring to the underlying theme of the initiative. The PKK always exploited the underprivileged Kurdish community and claimed to fight for Kurdish self-rule, while the state, which staunchly ignored Kurdish identity during the early years of violence, eventually started highlighting this aspect of the issue. Officials hope that stronger ethnic ties may trump the PKK’s separatist agenda. “We are going through a difficult process, but we will talk about every matter here,” Kurtulmuş said, highlighting the “historic mission” of the committee.
“We have to be careful about attempts to undermine this process, either here in our country or through intervention from abroad,” Kurtulmuş added.
After hearing from families of victims and veterans, the committee is expected to hold another session on Wednesday for families of PKK members. Three informal groups, calling themselves the Diyarbakır Mothers, the Saturday Mothers and the Peace Mothers, will meet with the lawmakers.
All have a relative, mostly sons and daughters, who were either tricked into joining the PKK or victims of extrajudicial killings targeting people with alleged ties to the group and all are known for their perennial protests. The Peace Mothers stand out among them as it is comprised of women whose children volunteered to join the PKK, and they advocate what they call “peace” between the state and the terrorist group.
The PKK last month literally burned weapons in a highly symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq as the first concrete phase of disarmament and is expected to abandon arms by the end of 2025 entirely. The initiative will then move on to a discussion on the status of the group, as cessation of acts of terrorism will pave the way for a new future for the PKK. This “future” will likely involve integrating the group’s members into a new life, either in Türkiye or abroad, and the committee aims to establish a legal framework for this new process.
The committee first convened on Aug. 8 with the participation of lawmakers from most parties, including the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), a key actor in the initiative due to its intricate links to the terrorist group. The opposition Good Party (IP) abstained from joining the committee. The IP is among several small parties opposing the initiative.
Although it is not authorized to draft bills, the committee will issue recommendations to Parliament, which may subsequently discuss and adopt them as bills.
The committee is expected to wrap up work by the end of this year, though this may be extended based on developments.
