Jailed PKK leader should urge YPG to drop weapons: Bahçeli

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli has called on jailed PKK ringleader Abdullah Öcalan to urge YPG to integrate with the national Syrian army in line with the ongoing “terror-free Türkiye bid.”

Bahçeli, closest ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan under the People’s Alliance, made his first speech to his parliamentary group on Oct. 7 after the parliament returned from the summer recess.

The MHP chairman devoted his address to the ongoing “terror-free Türkiye project” and appreciated the works of the parliamentary commission tasked to deal with the political, social and legal aspects of the process.

Recalling that Öcalan, who has been serving a life sentence at the İmralı prison island, issued a historic call to PKK on Feb. 27 to dissolve and disarm, Bahçeli stressed that, despite the fact that a first group from PKK dropped their weapons in a symbolic move, PKK’s Syrian leg, YPG, has not complied with Öcalan’s call.

“Here is my expectation: The founding leadership of PKK should issue a similar call to the SDG/YPG and demand the latter’s implementation of the March 10 deal [with the Syrian government],” Bahçeli said.

The March 10 agreement stipulates the integration of YPG with the new Syrian army until the end of this year. Ankara and Damascus complain about YPG’s efforts to prolong the process through tactical plots.

“If necessary, a group from the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission can go to the Imralı Island to hold a face-to-face meeting [with Öcalan] and his messages should be heard firsthand,” he stressed.

“There is nothing to hesitate with it,” Bahçeli added.

The commission has long been discussing holding a direct talk with Öcalan, but it has not made a decision to this end.