An ongoing bid to permanently resolve Türkiye’s five-decades old terrorism problem will have positive impacts over the surrounding region, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, praising the role of a parliamentary panel overseeing the "terror-free Türkiye" project.
In an address to his Justice and Development Party's (AKP) lawmakers during a weekly meeting in parliament on Nov. 19, Erdoğan said Türkiye has never been this close to resolving the PKK problem that has killed more than 40,000 people in the past five-decades.
“It’s high time for Türkiye to get rid of the terrorism problem which has become a major scourge. We must crown our struggles against terrorism over the years by creating a terror-free Türkiye,” he said.
The Turkish parliament has established a special commission to deal with the political and legal aspects of the terror-free Türkiye bid after Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli issued a historic call last year.
Following his remarks, which was supported by almost all political parties, PKK announced that it decided to give an end to its armed conflict against Türkiye and dissolve itself. A first group of members dropped their weapons in a symbolic move while the terror group has recently announced that its members have withdrawn from Türkiye and a key border region in northern Iraq.
"Positive progress [during the commission works] has been observed to date,” Erdoğan said, recalling that the panel held its 17th meeting on Nov. 18 and will meet once again on Nov. 21.
“Türkiye has become stronger as it reinforced its internal unity. With the accomplishment of a terror-free Türkiye, we will be even stronger,” Erdoğan stressed, adding that Türkiye’s resolving the terrorism problem “will shape the future of the region.”
“We will therefore achieve our objectives by first creating a terror-free Türkiye and then terror-free region,” the president noted.
All the steps to be taken to this end are being planned with great care, Erdoğan said, repeating the importance of the works of the parliamentary commission and all the participant parliamentarians.
“Every member of parliament has important responsibilities in fostering the climate of peace,” Erdoğan said while praising the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and MHP’s Bahçeli for acting with common sense.
Turkish second language in Syria
On Syria, Erdoğan recalled that the Syrian people made a "revolution" in December 2024 and "opened a new page" in the country’s history.
Türkiye hosted Syrians who fled their countries during the civil war and some of them have already returned, Erdoğan said, reiterating that the Turkish people will continue to stand with the Syrians in their effort to reconstruct their country and revive its economy.
“In the streets of Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, Turkish is spoken as the second language of Syrians,” Erdoğan said, stressing that the security of Syria is directly linked with Türkiye’s.
