'Terrorism scourge’ ending, Erdoğan says after PKK burns weapons

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has hailed the start of a disarmament process by PKK as the end of a “painful chapter” in Türkiye's history.

"Türkiye has won. Eighty-six million citizens have won... We know what we are doing. We are doing all this for Türkiye, for our future," Erdoğan told a meeting in Ankara.

He said the more than 40-year-old "scourge of terrorism" for which PKK was responsible is on its way to ending.

Erdoğan's remarks came a day after 30 PKK members in northern Iraq cast rifles and machine guns into a large cauldron where they were set on fire. The symbolic move was seen as the first step toward a promised disarmament as part of a peace process aimed at ending four decades of hostilities.

The move came after jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan urged the terror group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm. In May, PKK announced that it would do so.

"Today the doors of a great Türkiye, a strong Türkiye, a century of Türkiye have been opened wide," Erdoğan said.

In a statement from members laying down their weapons issued on July 11, PKK said they had disarmed “as a gesture of goodwill and a commitment to the practical success” of the peace bid.

Erdoğan insisted that there had been no bargaining with PKK. "The terror-free Türkiye project is not the result of negotiations, bargaining or transactions," he stated.

A senior Turkish official described the ceremony as a “milestone of the third stage” in a five-phase peace process. The official said Türkiye remained committed to peace, stability and reconciliation.

The first phase was the political initiative launched by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, followed by Öcalan’s message in February urging PKK to abandon the armed conflict, according to the official.

The next two steps would focus on legal reintegration of PKK members and long-term healing and reconciliation efforts, the official added.

PKK has long maintained bases in the mountains of northern Iraq, where Turkish forces have launched offensives and airstrikes and have set up bases in the area. Last year, Iraq’s government announced an official ban on the terror group.

The disarmament process comes amid a series of meetings facilitated by the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which has reestablished contact with Öcalan through multiple visits to the İmralı prison island off Istanbul.

DEM Party MPs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar met with Öcalan on July 6 and later held a closed-door meeting with Erdoğan on July 7. The president later described the talks as "constructive and sincere."

The DEM Party delegation is scheduled to continue its outreach by meeting with Bahçeli and main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel.

PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union.