After Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Call for Peace and Democratic Society", the PKK first decided to cease fire on 1 March, and then announced the final declaration of its 12th Congress on 12 May and announced that it had ended its work under the PKK name.

 

Making a statement on the day of the call, Mehmet Uçum, Chief Advisor to the President of the Republic, said: "A new era is beginning for Turkey. From now on, it is everyone's demand and responsibility to further develop and strengthen democracy, and it is also everyone's duty to protect Turkey's independence, geographical integrity and political unity. No one has an excuse to stand aside, to stay away, to stand against. We are Turkey together, and we must show this in every medium and in every field as a power of 86 million people."

 

POSITIVE MESSAGES FROM THE OPPOSITION

 

Making a statement on his virtual media account, CHP Chair Özgür Özel said, "We hope that the requirements of this call will be fulfilled by the addressees and that terrorism, which has cost tens of thousands of lives and caused severe economic and social damage, will end forever. Undoubtedly, issues are solved not by wishes, but by establishing an environment of trust and by actions. The solution to all of Turkey's problems is only possible by ensuring internal peace. Internal peace is not achieved in an authoritarian system, but in a democratic order, by complying with the principles of the rule of law, justice and equality."

 

Future Party Chair Ahmet Davutoğlu, DEVA Party Chair Ali Babacan and New Path Deputy Chair Bülent Kaya also made statements supporting the call and addressing the parliament for the solution of the problem.

 

STATEMENT BY BAHÇELI AND ERDOĞAN

 

Speaking at a programme on 28 February, AKP President Erdoğan said, "As of yesterday, a new phase has entered in the efforts for a terror-free Turkey, which started with the courageous initiative of our People's Alliance partner Mr. Devlet Bahçeli and was carried forward with our determined attitude. In front of us, there is an opportunity to take a good step towards the goal of demolishing the terrorist wall built between our thousand-year brotherhood. We believe that it is the most appropriate method to be carried out with calmness, patience and sincerity. There will be those who do not want this problem to end permanently, absolutely and definitively. In this process, we will show the highest level of caution against any provocation and take all necessary measures. When the pressure of arms and terrorism is removed, the democratic space of politics will naturally expand even more."

 

On 1 March, MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli made a statement on his virtual media account and said, "In such a chaotic environment and conditions, a historic opportunity has opened for Turkey. On 27 February 2025, the statement read to the public by the DEM delegation and penned in İmralı is valuable and important from beginning to end." 

 

On the PKK's ceasefire decision, Bahçeli said, "The statements are supportive and complementary to this call, and in fact, they are pleasing. The fact that the PKK terrorist organisation's ringleaders in Qandil have united around İmralı and embraced the 27 February call is an organisational coherence at this stage we have reached and is in the interest of everyone."

 

BAHÇELI CHANGED HIS LANGUAGE

 

Changing his language after the call, Devlet Bahçeli used the expression "founding leader of the PKK" for Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan in one of his posts. MHP Deputy Chair İsmail Özdemir, who made a statement against the reactions to this statement, said: "Whether we accept it or not. This is a technical reality. The President expressed this reality. Turkey needs to overcome some things."

 

ERDOGAN: NEW WORLD ORDER

 

On 12 March, AKP Chair and President Erdoğan participated in the "Iftar Programme with Members of Parliament" held at the Parliament and spoke about the process and said, "We have made significant progress in a short period of time in our efforts to achieve a terrorism-free Turkey. On 27 February, a critical threshold mountain in the initiative for a terrorism-free Turkey was crossed with calmness. I am of the opinion that we will hopefully achieve the expected result faster than the expected result without prolonging it too much, without causing tension and provocation and without dragging it out." 

 

On 31 March, Erdoğan said, "It is in our hands to turn this expectation into joy, not frustration. Turkey without terrorism will be a Turkey where democracy becomes stronger. In the period when a new world order is being shaped, it is possible to turn this development into an opportunity for Turkey."

 

NEGOTIATIONS WITH PARTIES

 

In this process, a delegation headed by DEM Party Co-Chairs Tulay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan started the second round of meetings with political parties in the Parliament on 10 March. The delegation first met with the Labour Party (EMEP) in the Parliament, followed by meetings with the Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Özgür Özel and DEVA Party Chair Ali Babacan. On 12 March, the delegation met with the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), the Felicity Party and the Future Party, followed by meetings with AKP and MHP delegations on 17 March. The most important of these meetings was the meeting between President Erdoğan and the İmralı delegation consisting of DEM Party MPs Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan on 10 April. This meeting was the first face-to-face contact with Erdoğan after 13 years.

 

On 24 April, the DEM Party delegation met with Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç. DEM Party Parliamentary Group Deputy Chairs Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, Sezai Temelli and Deputy Co-Chair and Co-Speaker of the Legal and Human Rights Commission Öztürk Türkdoğan held a meeting on the working and health conditions of Abdullah Öcalan, as well as the proposals for amendments to the Law on Execution of Sentences regarding ill prisoners and those whose executions were burnt.

 

EVENTS AFTER THE PKK'S DECISION

 

The PKK Executive Committee, which announced that it convened its 12th Congress on 5-7 May, announced on 12 May that it had ended its work. MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli was one of the first to react to this announcement and said, "I would like to thank and express my gratitude to Abdullah Öcalan, the founding leader of the PKK, who took on the historical responsibility with his call for peace and democratic society on 27 February, to the delegations that carried out the contact and meeting traffic between İmralı-DEM Party-Kandil, to the DEM Party's co-chairs, executives and deputies...".

 

Erdoğan said, "Today we have crossed another critical threshold in the process of Turkey without terrorism. We are taking firm steps towards our goal of Turkey without terrorism by overcoming obstacles, breaking prejudices, breaking the traps of sedition and discord." 

 

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, "It is a historic and important decision."

 

AKP Deputy Chair Efkan Ala, who participated in the talks on behalf of the government during the 2013-2015 peace negotiations, said, "At this important stage, the mechanisms regarding the work to be carried out and the management of the process will be operated as required."

 

STATEMENT FROM THE OPPOSITION

 

CHP Chair Özgür Özel said, "As CHP, we are in favour of peace with a historical consistency. We act with a sense of responsibility for a comprehensive solution in which the consent of martyrs' families, veterans and all victims will be obtained. We underline the need for all legal arrangements required for democratisation to be made under the roof of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey without waiting."

 

DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan said, "I hope we will crown this process with peace." 

 

Pervin Buldan, member of the İmralı Delegation and DEM Party deputy Pervin Buldan said, "A new period has begun in which we will remove the barbed wire and crown peace. I wish Sırrı Süreyya could see it. May it be auspicious.”

 

WAR IN PRACTICE

 

In the process that started on 1 October 2024, took on a new dimension on 27 February and continued with the decision on 12 May, the only concrete step taken so far regarding the process has been the PKK's decision, despite positive statements from the ruling bloc and the opposition. Neither Erdoğan nor Bahçeli took a single concrete step towards political and legal arrangements, and the attacks on the Federated Kurdistan Region continued uninterruptedly.

 

According to the statement of the HPG Press Liaison Centre, between 1 March and 10 May, when the PKK declared a ceasefire, a total of 23,914 attacks were carried out on the region from both air and ground.

 

MA / Tolga Güney