Intelligence chief briefs parties on peace initiative
ANKARA
Türkiye’s intelligence head İbrahim Kalın has begun a tour of parliamentary parties to provide briefings on the government's ongoing "terror-free Türkiye" initiative.
Kalın's first meeting was with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli. Media reports said the talks addressed recent developments in the peace bid.
As part of the process, PKK declared a ceasefire following a call from its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan and later announced its decision to dissolve and lay down arms. Earlier this month, 30 PKK members burned their weapons during a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq.
Kalın later held separate meetings with officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
He is expected to meet with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the İYİ (Good) Party and the New Path Party in the coming days. The İYİ Party remains the only major parliamentary group not backing the initiative.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş met with Bahçeli on July 21 to discuss a planned commission that will oversee the process. Kurtulmuş is also expected to meet with CHP leader Özgür Özel on July 24.
The commission is set to be established by the speaker’s decision rather than legislation and will make decisions by a qualified majority. It will consist of between 35 to 45 MPs, with party quotas based on parliamentary representation.
The DEM Party has assumed a mediating role between Öcalan and Ankara, updating political actors on the progress. The initiative accelerated after party delegations were granted permission to visit Öcalan on the İmralı prison island off Istanbul.
This followed a public call by Bahçeli in parliament for Öcalan to renounce terrorism, an appeal that was later endorsed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Before PKK’s disarmament ceremony, a DEM Party delegation visited İmralı again and met with Erdoğan on July 7.
The group also held meetings with Bahçeli, Future Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu and Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç on July 16, and with Özel on July 17.
PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union.
