Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for broad national and parliamentary backing of the ongoing disarmament of Kurdish militants, following the symbolic surrender and destruction of weapons by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters, a move he described as a historic turning point for Turkey.
On Friday, thirty PKK militants gathered at the mouth of a cave in northern Iraq and burned their weapons, marking what Erdogan called the start of a new era after decades of violence.
“As of yesterday, the scourge of terrorism has entered its final phase. Today, we turn a new page in our nation’s history, opening the doors to a stronger, greater Turkey,” Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party in Ankara.
He urged the parliament to play its part by establishing a legal framework to complete the disarmament process. “I expect our parliament to back this initiative with the widest possible consensus,” he added.
Plans are underway to set up a parliamentary commission tasked with supervising the transition of the PKK from an armed insurgency into peaceful democratic engagement.
The PKK, which has been banned since 1984 and has waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state, announced in May its decision to dissolve, disarm, and end its separatist campaign following an appeal by its imprisoned founder Abdullah Ocalan.
While previous peace attempts have collapsed, this new move offers fresh hope of ending an insurgency that has claimed over 40,000 lives, strained the Turkish economy, and deepened social and political divides within Turkey and across the broader region.
