PKK withdrawal from Turkey ‘glorious step’: AKP lawmaker

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A lawmaker from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Tuesday told Rudaw the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) decision to withdraw its fighters from Turkish territory was a “glorious step” in the ongoing peace process between Ankara and the Kurdish group.

“The [PKK’s] step, of withdrawing its forces [from Turkish territories], is a very warm and glorious step. This comes after calls from the [Turkish] prime minister, parliament speaker, and other officials. When one looks at the situation, they see that new history is being written,” AKP parliamentarian Suna Kepolu Ataman told Rudaw in an interview.

The Kurdish rebel group on Sunday announced that it had begun pulling its fighters from Turkey into the Kurdistan Region as part of what it described as a transition toward peace and disarmament, following more than four decades of conflict with the Turkish state.

“Based on the 12th Congress decisions, we are carrying out the withdrawal of all our forces within Turkey’s borders... to the Medya Defense Areas, based on Leader Abdullah Ocalan’s approval,” the PKK said in a statement read during a press conference near its headquarters on Mount Qandil.

The event featured 25 armed PKK fighters - including three commanders and eight women - who had recently crossed from Turkey.

Ankara, which has battled the PKK since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed around 40,000 lives - mostly Kurdish fighters - has welcomed the group’s withdrawal.

Ataman expressed confidence that this round of peace efforts would not fail, saying “this time, in parliament and outside parliament, all parties are working with warm hearts to advance it.”

“In the Turkish parliament, a commission has been established to serve Kurdish-Turkish brotherhood,” she added, noting that the body brings together representatives from across the political spectrum. “They are all together in that commission. This is a sign that everyone wants this issue resolved.”

The referenced commission includes members of the AKP and its governing ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), whose leader Devlet Bahceli helped launch the process by calling on jailed PKK founder Ocalan to announce his group’s dissolution.

The entity also includes lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, which has acted as a mediator in the talks, along with several smaller Kurdish parties.

Ataman said the commission will play a key role in shaping the legal and political framework for the next stages of the process.

“Undoubtedly, after this step, several laws and guidelines must be issued - that is the responsibility of parliament and the government,” she said, emphasizing the importance of inclusive dialogue.

“One must listen to all parties. When you don’t listen to everyone, you cannot reach a solution,” she added, stressing that “when it becomes clear who the main interlocutor of this solution is - which is Abdullah Ocalan - undoubtedly, he must be listened to.”

Importantly, the DEM Party, which has been acting as a facilitator for the peace talks and has met Ocalan several times in Imrali Prison near Istanbul, said Monday that the peace process has entered “a brand new phase” following the PKK’s withdrawal.

The move follows a February call by Ocalan urging his followers to dissolve the organization and lay down their arms. The PKK formally renounced its armed struggle in May and, in July, symbolically burned a cache of weapons in the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province.

Hiwa Jamal contributed to this report.

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