Bahçeli slams YPG for undermining anti-terror bid
ANKARA
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has criticized PYD and YPG for seeking to undermine the Turkish government’s ongoing "terror-free Türkiye" initiative.
"The main call for the Nationalist Movement Party to heed is the İmrali call," Bahçeli said on July 26 in a written statement where he shared his views on the domestic and foreign political agenda.
He was referring to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s call on the terror group to disband and disarm. PKK responded by having some of its members burn their weapons in northern Iraq earlier this month.
PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union. Ankara also considers PYD and YPG as its Syrian extensions.
"The Call for Peace and a Democratic Society issued by the PKK's founding leadership on Feb. 27 is binding and valid for all components and structures of the organization," Bahçeli said.
"It is a historic mistake that the YPG/PYD, disguised as the SDF in Syria, has still not complied with the March 10, 2025, agreement and continues its contacts and activities without interruption, threatening the security of both the Damascus government and our country.”
Following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, the Syrian Democratic Forces signed an integration deal with the newly formed government on March 10.
Bahçeli accused PYD and YPG of “dragging” the process and condemned what he described as their “seeking to cripple developments” as “unacceptable filth.”
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş earlier requested that all parties submit names by July 31 for the 51-member commission to oversee the anti-terrorism initiative.
Bahçeli said the MHP would be represented by deputy leader Feti Yıldız and MPs Muhammet Levent Bülbül, Halil Öztürk and Yücel Bulut, calling the initiative a “golden opportunity.”
In the statement, he also criticized the İYİ (Good) Party for refusing to participate in the commission and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for "making participation in the commission conditional."
The anti-terror bid was made possible after Bahçeli publicly urged Öcalan to renounce terrorism in parliament — an appeal later endorsed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
