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The disarmament of the PKK terrorist group continues as the terror-free Türkiye initiative took a new turn with the establishment of a special parliamentary committee to discuss the process.
The group, titled the National Unity, Fraternity and Democracy Committee, held its second meeting on Friday and the closed session heard ministers of interior and national defense as well as head of intelligence organization. On Tuesday, it will hold its third meeting while media reports say more concrete steps from the PKK may come soon.
Those include the evacuation of Makhmur and Sinjar, two camps where PKK members and sympathizers reside in Iraq, setting up a legal framework for disarmed members of the group and the likely voluntary evacuation of the PKK’s senior figures to African or European countries.
The PKK started laying down weapons last month through a ceremony in northern Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah. Thirty members of the group, including senior leader Bese Hozat, burned their weapons in a cauldron in a well-publicized ceremony. Since then, little has been heard from the group except statements by some PKK leaders apparently expressing dissatisfaction with group’s decision to dissolve itself.
A report by Sabah newspaper published on Saturday says disarmament continues in secrecy, and Turkish officials closely monitor it and record the sites where arms were abandoned. Türkiye expects the process of disarmament to move forward faster than examples abroad, such as the disarmament of the ETA in Spain or the IRA in Ireland.
Soon, authorities expect the evacuation of Makhmur and Sinjar, both occupied by the PKK, sites that have hosted both Kurdish families and armed members of the terrorist group. The Makhmur camp is the oldest for PKK members and was set up in 1998 in the eponymous town. It primarily housed PKK sympathizers who left Türkiye in 1990s, as well as dangerous PKK members. Unconfirmed media reports say the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, sent a message to residents of the camp and urged them to prepare for imminent evacuation. The report by Sabah says families hailing from Türkiye who lived in Makhmur under the control of the PKK would be allowed to return home.
Türkiye is considering reintegration measures for PKK members not involved in any crimes and who volunteered to abandon arms, according to the Sabah report, but more than three dozen members of the group of senior cadres and some 300 members in lower ranks will not be allowed to return to Türkiye. These include PKK terrorists known to authorities and involved in masterminding or participating in acts of terrorism. Türkiye will allow them to stay in Iraq or Syria for a while but a permanent stay after the PKK’s full disarmament is out of question, according to the reports. The Sabah report also says they would be “advised” to leave for Europe or some African countries with good ties with Türkiye.
An outstanding issue in the initiative is the state of the YPG, the U.S.-backed Syrian wing of the terrorist group. The YPG insisted it was not a part of the disarmament but also failed to comply with a deal it signed with Damascus for integration into the Syrian army.
It is estimated that the YPG has up to 5,000 armed members. The U.S., which long supported the YPG under the pretext of a joint fight against the terrorist group Daesh, recently shifted its rhetoric and started openly supporting the YPG’s integration. Reports say the YPG may not stall its deal with Damascus more if Washington cuts off support and evacuate its military outpost in several northeastern Syrian towns occupied by the YPG.
In Ankara, Parliament will deal with the legal aspects of the initiative. Likely building upon the new committee’s recommendations, Parliament is expected to draft bills for the integration of disarmed PKK members to the society and their rehabilitation.
New legal regulations are required for PKK members to return to Türkiye, which designates it as a terrorist group. Quoting unnamed Turkish authorities, the Sabah report said Iraq is home to about 2,200 PKK members, while it is estimated around 200 terrorists are in hiding in Türkiye. Currently, some 5,000 people are incarcerated in Turkish prisons on charges related to the PKK and about 100 among them are elderly or suffering from debilitating diseases. A new amendment may particularly lead to the release of this second group as elderly and terminally ill prisoners are occasionally granted clemency.
Speaking before the last meeting of the parliamentary committee on Friday, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, who also chairs the committee, said they needed closed sessions due to the sensitive nature of the matter. Despite widespread support for the initiative as evidenced in recent opinion polls, authorities are worried that there might be attempts to undermine it, especially by far-right parties that oppose the initiative and foreign powers that used the PKK as a proxy group to advance their own goals, as the government has repeatedly pointed out.
“The committee is a historic step. In order to seize this great opportunity and, with the terrorist group now set to dissolve itself, to establish an environment where weapons, strife, and conflict are no longer discussed and where peace, brotherhood, and well-being take their place, our committee has a historic duty. I would like to thank everyone for the attitude shown during the commitee’s first meeting. Each of our colleagues expressed their views openly and in a highly respectful manner. The fact that our first decisions were adopted unanimously with the joint votes of all parties and all deputies participating in the commission is important for the committee’s success. From now on, I believe the spirit of unity displayed here will be important both for the negotiations and for the implementation of the decisions taken,” Kurtulmuş said.
“To make the most of this historic opportunity, we must proceed very carefully and express our views clearly. After all, those present in this room represent, in terms of votes, 98% of Türkiye. We are obliged to conduct this process with the sensitivity to meet the opinions and expectations of the people. There will be sessions in which very open and heated debates take place, but all of these will be the result of our shared intention to strengthen Türkiye’s national unity and solidarity. The consensus that emerges will please large segments of the public,” he said.
Kurtulmuş highlighted that the committee would oversee the legislative and regulatory arrangements that would emerge in connection with the process and would refer them to Parliament’s General Assembly for an ultimate decision and legislation.
