There is Still Hope for Türkiye-PKK Détente Despite Deadly Attack | PKK News

Istanbul, Türkiye – The sight of Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), walking on the floor of the Turkish parliament on October 1 and shaking hands with politicians from the pro-Kurdish DEM party was unlikely.

The MHP leader, a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is a vocal opponent of Kurdish demands for greater rights. He called Kurdish politicians “terrorists”, accusing them of links to the PKK – an armed group considered by Turkey and the West as a “terrorist organization”. He also called for the DEM’s predecessor to be banned.

A promise of new peace negotiations between Turkey and Kurdish fighters who launched a 40-year insurgency was thrown into question last month after an attack on an aerospace facility near the capital Ankara.

Bahceli later said his gesture was “a message of national unity and brotherhood.”

Weeks later, he raised the possibility that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, serving a life sentence since 1999, could be granted parole if he renounced violence and disbanded his organization.

And then, the very next day, October 23, the attack on the aerospace and defense company TUSAS, which left five people dead and two of the attackers dead, threatened to reverse the steps taken earlier.

TUSAS produces civilian and military aircraft, including unmanned drones, that have played a key role in the fight against the PKK, which has been at war with the Turkish state since the 1980s as part of a bid for greater autonomy for Kurds living in southeastern Turkey.

The PKK claimed responsibility for the TUSAS attack two days later. The statement said the raid was not related to the latest “political agenda” but was planned long in advance because TUSAS weapons “have killed thousands of civilians in Kurdistan, including children and women.”

“An Historic Window of Opportunity”

Yet the attack may not be the death knell of a potential rapprochement as some initially feared. Instead, there appear to be elements of an underlying desire on both sides to seek a resolution to a protracted conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.

DEM quickly made it clear that it opposed the TUSAS attack, condemning it and stating that it was “significant” that it occurred “when Turkish society is talking about a solution and the possibility of dialogue arises.”

Even after the attack, Erdogan himself described this development as an “unparalleled opportunity.”

Praising Bahceli’s “will to focus on the right path” in an October 30 speech, the president said: “Those who read the MHP chairman’s calls in this context see a historic window of opportunity.”

According to reports, the DEM is currently trying to organize a formal structure for peace negotiations involving senior figures from all political parties.

DEM MP Ibrahim Akin described Bahceli’s comments about Ocalan as a “sign of a new era” and a manifestation of the government’s approach.

“However, many things are still uncertain and cause fluctuations,” he said. “We want a transparent process involving all parties and political actors.”

Rationale

After the attack in Ankara, Türkiye carried out a wave of airstrikes against the PKK in Iraq and Syria.

Since the late 1990s, the group has directed its operations in Turkey from the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq. In recent years, the Turkish military has severely limited PKK activities in Turkey by establishing dozens of bases on the Iraqi side of the border and cross-border air attacks.

Meanwhile, in northeastern Syria, Turkey also attacked the PKK-linked People’s Defense Units (YPG), which the United States has supported since 2015 in the fight against ISIL (ISIS), providing weapons and training. US support for the Kurdish armed group has strained Turkey’s relations with the US.

Although Türkiye does not recognize any separation between the PKK and the YPG, most Western countries have refused to designate the latter as a “terrorist” group. In a speech after the TUSAS attack, Erdogan said two PKK attackers had crossed into Turkey from Syria, implicating the YPG.

Some commentators justify the latest call for talks as Erdogan’s desire to change Turkey’s current constitution, which would prevent him from running for office again unless early elections are called.

DEM – the third largest party in parliament – ​​could provide valuable support.

“The ruling coalition will likely try to change the constitution to remove Erdogan’s term limits,” said Berk Esen, a political scientist at Sabanci University in Istanbul. “They probably want to split the opposition coalition and co-opt, if not directly the Kurdish political movement, then at least some Kurdish voters, especially conservative Kurdish voters in southeastern Anatolia.”

The idea of ​​an agreement between Erdogan’s Turkish government and the PKK is not as far-fetched as it might seem at first glance. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) made a determined effort during its first years in power in the 2000s to grant more rights to Kurds in Turkey, who had long been a marginalized group. At times it seemed as if the peace process that began in 2013 was close to succeeding, but ended in failure in 2015.

The current move also comes at a time of extreme unrest in the Middle East. US support for Israel has reportedly worried Kurdish groups, including the PKK, which has historical ties to Palestinian armed groups. DEM is highly critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon.

A second Donald Trump presidency would also likely result in the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, removing YPG protection.

Esen said Türkiye could take “a pre-emptive step to fill the political vacuum that is emerging in the Middle East” to “make progress in the region.”

Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the Ankara-based German Marshall Fund, said that “favorable conditions, including regional actors preoccupied with other crises and a weakened PKK state, suggest an opportunity for progress.”

However, he had doubts whether Ocalan, who had been held incommunicado for recent years, retained sufficient influence over the PKK to steer this process.

“Additionally, there are limits to what the Turkish public can tolerate in talks with the PKK, and Ocalan’s speech in the Turkish parliament remains outside those limits,” Unluhisarcikli added.

A poll conducted by the Institute for Social Studies on October 24 found that almost three-quarters of respondents opposed Ocalan’s release. A less scientific measure of public reaction is that fans at a Fenerbahce match in Istanbul chanted insults at the PKK leader after the attack in Ankara.