Turkish president expects “good news” as PKK prepares to disarm soon

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Wednesday that the country may soon receive “good news” from the Türkiye Without Terrorism initiative, referring to a possible breakthrough in the disarmament of the PKK militant group, Caliber.Az reports, citing Turkish media.

Speaking at a parliamentary group meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdoğan said: “In the coming days, we will have good news.”

According to local media, the first group of PKK militants is expected to lay down their arms in Iraq on July 11.

“A Türkiye free of terror will not betray the memory of our martyrs,” Erdoğan stated. “We are liberating our country from the bloody shackles. After the wall of terrorism collapses, everything will change.”

Erdoğan has long emphasised the goal of eradicating terrorism as central to Türkiye’s national security doctrine.

For the record, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, and the European Union, has waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s.

Last week, Turkish media announced that the PKK fighters in northern Iraq would begin handing over weapons, with a symbolic ceremony planned for July 11. Türkiye is pushing for a concrete legal framework to oversee this process. 

Previous reports said the first group of 50 PKK members is expected to surrender their weapons in the northern Iraqi city of Duhok under the supervision of Turkish, Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials.

The Türkiye Without Terrorism initiative, launched in October 2024 by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Erdoğan’s coalition partner, aims to end the PKK’s 40-year insurgency, which has claimed over 40,000 lives and cost Türkiye an estimated $400 billion. The initiative gained momentum following PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s historic call on February 27, 2025, from his prison on İmralı Island, urging the PKK to disarm and dissolve. Öcalan described the group as obsolete, citing democratic advances in Türkiye and the collapse of real socialism, and called for a shift to peaceful, democratic means to address Kurdish rights.

By Khagan Isayev