The leader of the government’s major ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), expanded on his call against PKK terrorism in a speech on Tuesday.
Addressing the parliamentary group meeting of his party in the capital, Ankara, Devlet Bahçeli said he stood with what he said on Oct. 22. “We are waiting for the contact between Imralı and the DEM Party, waiting for it to take place without delay,” he said, referring to the island where PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan is imprisoned and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party). Bahçeli told the same meeting in October that Öcalan should be granted conditional release and make a speech at the parliamentary group meeting of the DEM Party – which is known for its links to the terrorist group – so the group would lay down its arms.
Bahçeli’s landmark call was endorsed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which forms the People’s Alliance with the MHP. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has described it as a historic window of opportunity. Öcalan himself was allowed to talk to his lawyers and a relative and reportedly accepted Bahçeli’s call.
The terrorist group’s violent campaign since the 1980s claimed thousands of lives, and it remains one of the major terrorism threats for Türkiye. The country has long tried to suppress the campaign through intense military and police operations in the 1990s and early 2000s. In the mid-2000s, Erdoğan spearheaded what is tentatively called a “reconciliation process,” seeking to redress problems the Kurdish community faced, issues that the PKK exploited to carry out its violent attacks. The process came to a halt when the PKK resumed its campaign after a brief lull. Neither Erdoğan nor Bahçeli affirmed that this is a second reconciliation process, and both pledged that Türkiye would continue its counterterrorism operations in Türkiye, as well as in Iraq and Syria, where the group has strongholds. Nevertheless, they underline this is a “terror-free initiative” to eradicate terrorism both by military force and Öcalan’s call.
The MHP leader said all separatists and terrorists exploiting “our Kurdish brothers and sisters,” “abducting, agitating them,” “is doomed to lose and pay the price for what they’ve done,” he stated. “A terror-free Türkiye is a peaceful, prosperous, safe Türkiye,” he said. Bahçeli often highlights that a united Türkiye is necessary to end the terrorism, calling Kurds not to fall for PKK propaganda. “We have to join hands and end terrorism,” he said on Tuesday.
He stressed that the DEM Party should make up its mind now. “Are you the DEM Party of separatist terrorism or will you be the party for our common destiny and thousands of years of brotherhood? Are you going to condemn terrorism or not?” he said in his speech. “Terrorism is a one-way road. You cannot achieve anything through terrorism,” he said.
The DEM Party is Parliament’s third largest, with 57 lawmakers. A few hours after Bahçeli’s speech, the party announced that it applied to the Justice Ministry for talks with Öcalan. Sırrı Süreyya Önder, deputy speaker of the Turkish Parliament and a prominent lawmaker from the DEM Party, responded to Bahçeli’s remarks on Tuesday and said they would support any initiative for “peace and negotiations.” Önder, who met former Mardin Mayor Ahmet Türk, who was suspended from office recently for his alleged links to the PKK, said they would accept any invitation on the matter and express their views. He noted that Bahçeli was persistent in his call and received community support and criticism. Türk, who reportedly met with Bahçeli, said the issue needed a dignified solution.
“I shake every hand for peace. We need time now. Things are not very clear. I don’t have any scheduled meeting (with Bahçeli), but it may or may not take place in the future,” he said. Answering reporters’ questions on the rumored meeting, Bahçeli, for his part, said Türk was a respected figure in southeastern Türkiye, and he could meet him any time if he desired a meeting.