أردوغان: لجنة برلمانية لمناقشة نزع سلاح «العمال الكردستاني»

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the formation of a parliamentary committee to discuss the legal requirements for the disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), stating that nearly 47 years of terrorism have reached their final stage.

In a speech from Ankara today (Saturday), Erdoğan considered that the changes that have occurred in Syria and Iraq have helped us deal with terrorism, estimating the cost of terrorism to Turkey over the years at around two trillion dollars. He pointed out that terrorism has resulted in the deaths of 10,000 members of our security forces and 50,000 civilians.

In discussing the PKK's abandonment of arms, he said: "We fought terrorism and approached our Kurdish brothers, showing them that we want the interest of the country and their interest."

PKK fighters began handing over their weapons near the city of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq yesterday (Friday), in a symbolic but significant step in the decades-long conflict between Turkey and the banned group.

Thirty PKK militants burned their weapons at the entrance of a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, in a symbolic but significant move towards ending a decades-long rebellion against Turkey.

The PKK, which has waged a bloody struggle against the Turkish state since 1984, decided last May to dissolve itself and end its armed conflict following a public call from its long-imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan.

After this step, attention turns to the next steps the Turkish government will take following the disarmament of the party as part of the negotiation process between the two sides, which began in the last quarter of last year.

Turkish sources reported that Erdoğan will receive a high-level delegation from the "Peoples' Democratic Party" a few hours after his speech today, or at the beginning of next week. The meeting is expected to discuss the mechanism for forming parliamentary committees to move forward in the peace process, especially since the parliamentary summer recess will begin in a few days.

It is likely that the fate of Kurdish fighters in the Qandil Mountains, the PKK's stronghold, will be discussed, along with how to improve the conditions of Öcalan, the party's leader and founder, who has been imprisoned by Turkey since 1999.

A PKK leader called for the release of Abdullah Öcalan yesterday (Friday), who is serving a life sentence in an isolated area on an island off Istanbul.

Prominent leader Bese Hozat stated that "ensuring the physical freedom of leader Apo, through legal guarantees, is essential... this is our condition and our main demand. Without this development, it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully," as she expressed.