The months-long disarmament process involving the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has made little tangible progress, Turkish intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın has said.
Ankara’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative - of which the PKK’s disarmament is a key pillar - has so far produced only “symbolic” steps, Kalın told officials from the ruling AK Party at a Sunday briefing.
According to party officials cited by local media, there is no evidence that PKK fighters based in northern Iraq have laid down their arms, despite calls to do so by the group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan.
For four decades, the PKK waged a violent insurgency against the Turkish state, in which tens of thousands of people - both civilians and military personnel - were killed.
The group has long been designated a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union.
Ruling party officials also said that the regional war involving Iran, Israel and the U.S. - which will soon enter its third month - has further complicated the PKK disarmament process.
They said the ongoing conflict has altered the expectations of the Iraq-based PKK leadership and delayed the next phase of the process, including planned legal reforms.
According to party officials, the “legal regulation phase” of the process had been set to begin in April.
“But the Iran factor changed the situation,” one party source was quoted as saying.
The PKK’s Iraq-based leadership, for its part, has yet to respond to the assertions.
In return for the PKK’s disarmament, Ankara has pledged to pursue judicial reforms aimed at expanding Kurdish political participation and addressing long-standing Kurdish grievances.
Speaking at a 22 March rally in Istanbul, Tülay Hatimoğulları, co-chair of Türkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party, called on Ankara to “listen to the voice of peace and take the necessary legal steps”.
She said that the DEM Party, which has played a mediating role between Ankara and the PKK, stands for “genuine peace strengthened by democracy and justice.”
“True rule of law will prevail in this country and justice will serve everyone,” Hatimoğulları told supporters.
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