Politics
Battle over PKK disarmament defines new phase in Türkiye initiative
Türkiye’s terror-free Türkiye initiative has entered its most critical stage, with the central issue no longer focused on political negotiations but on who will control the terrorist PKK’s disarmament process and under what conditions the group’s weapons will be surrendered.
Türkiye’s terror-free Türkiye initiative has reached a decisive turning point as the focus shifts from political dialogue to the practical reality of disarmament and the struggle over who controls the process on the ground.
The latest statements from the PKK/KCK leadership revealed growing tension between PKK’s imprisoned terrorist ringleader Abdullah Öcalan’s symbolic authority and the operational control exercised by the group’s Mount Qandil-based commanders. During remarks marking the first anniversary of the organization’s May 2025 dissolution congress, senior KCK figures Mustafa Karasu and Sozdar Avesta announced that the group would continue under the name “Apoist Movement Management.” Yet the organization’s armed structure, leadership cadres and KCK titles remained unchanged, while the statements themselves were delivered alongside armed terrorists.
The development reinforced Ankara’s long-standing concern that while Öcalan is still accepted as the terrorist group’s ideological leader, control over weapons and the timeline of disarmament is being kept in Qandil’s hands. Turkish officials view this distinction as the core challenge facing the process.
Ankara’s position has become increasingly clear: weapons must first be surrendered unconditionally, after which legal and political mechanisms can follow. The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) is expected to oversee a verification and monitoring mechanism aimed at confirming whether militants genuinely disarm and withdraw from armed activity.
At the same time, the Justice Ministry is preparing legislation focusing on two key areas: the return of militants not involved in crimes and the technical framework governing how the disarmament process will be managed. Turkish officials insist the state will prioritize concrete developments on the ground over political declarations.
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli publicly outlined Ankara’s sequencing formula, stating that Öcalan’s legal status could only be considered after the terrorist group fully dissolves and hands over all weapons. Bahçeli also proposed a “Peace Process and Political Integration Coordination Office,” though the framework similarly rejected any discussion of political status before complete disarmament.
Qandil, however, continues to oppose Ankara’s approach. Mustafa Karasu openly rejected linking legal reforms to disarmament, insisting that “legal steps should not be tied to laying down arms.” The contradiction became more visible as the group simultaneously claimed armed units had withdrawn beyond Türkiye’s borders while continuing to appear publicly with armed cadres.
Another key issue has emerged around Öcalan’s ability to directly influence the process. The pro-PKK DEM Party delegation has reportedly been unable to establish direct contact with Öcalan for nearly a month, a development viewed by security officials as strategically important because every delay increases Qandil’s room for maneuver and bargaining power.
The process has also exposed growing political divergence between the DEM Party and the PKK’s armed leadership. DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan openly supported the political framework proposed by Bahçeli and rejected arguments that instability in the Middle East justified delaying disarmament. Bakırhan further stated that if democratic reforms were implemented and the PKK still failed to comply, the DEM Party itself would become the organization’s first critic.
Attention has also turned toward the PKK’s long-standing financial structure in Europe, which Turkish observers describe as one of the organization’s most important power bases. Networks stretching from Luxembourg and Rotterdam to Paris and Brussels allegedly include front companies, money laundering channels, extortion schemes and narcotics trafficking operations that have sustained the group for decades. Within this framework, weapons are viewed not only as an ideological tool but also as the foundation of an entrenched political and economic order.
Turkish officials remain determined not to repeat the collapse of the 2013-2015 reconciliation process, when the PKK recalculated regional conditions during the Syrian conflict and returned to armed confrontation. As a result, the current initiative is being built around intelligence-based verification mechanisms and measurable developments in the field rather than political promises alone.
The process now hinges on whether Qandil is genuinely prepared to end its armed structure or seeks to preserve a controlled military presence as leverage for future negotiations. Turkish officials increasingly see this as the defining question that will determine the fate of the initiative.
Fifty-four boats, part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, left the southwestern Turkish town of Marmaris on Thursday for Gaza.
Numerous activists from 70 countries are participating in the flotilla. Among the Turkish activists are Sümeyra Akdeniz Ordu, board member of the flotilla, and Mahmut Arslan, head of the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-İş), a major labor union.
The second Global Sumud Flotilla that launched from Spain on April 12 attempted to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering aid.
Israel deported last Sunday two foreign activists seized from the flotilla, in what a rights group representing them described as a “punitive attack” on a civilian mission.
Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were among dozens of activists aboard the flotilla intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters off the coast of Greece on April 30. The pair were seized and brought to Israel for questioning, while the others were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released. The intervention by Israel disrupted the plans of the activists, who later regrouped in Marmaris, a popular tourist destination in the southwestern part of Türkiye close to the Greek islands.
Abu Keshek joined other activists at a news conference in Marmaris on Wednesday and vowed that they would resume their mission with “more than 500 brave people.” He said Israel was committing a “slow genocide” by starving people of Gaza.
“They are implementing a colonizing process to displace Palestinians,” he said.
“The struggle of Palestinians, however, continues because Palestinians are like olive trees and will not leave the soil. We are embarking on our voyage because we are inspired by people resisting (Israel) for 78 years,” he said.
The mission marks the second initiative by the Global Sumud Flotilla, following a previous attempt in September 2025 that ended with an Israeli interception in international waters and the detention of hundreds of international activists.
In October 2023, Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and destroyed about 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure, with reconstruction costs estimated by the United Nations at around $70 billion.
Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007, leaving about 1.5 million Palestinians out of roughly 2.4 million homeless after their homes were destroyed during the war.
The “Grand Convention of Turkish Youth” will be a major occasion for Turkish nationalists. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Idealists’ Club Foundation of Education and Culture, an affiliate of the party, will host the event in Ankara on May 19, an official holiday marked as the Day of Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day.
The government ally MHP is the oldest nationalist party in Türkiye, while the Idealists’ Club is an entity mostly populated with younger supporters of the MHP. In the past, the party and the club were unfairly accused of inciting violence, and they have sought to reinvent their image in recent years.
The convention will be an opportunity to showcase the values of next-generation nationalists. Its highlights will be “Göktay 1” and “Göktay 2,” two race cars developed by the Idealists’ Clubs in Izmir and Bursa, and personally named by MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, and “Türkan,” an unmanned aerial vehicle developed by the members of the clubs.
Ahmet Yiğit Yıldırım, chairperson of the Idealists’ Club Foundation of Education and Culture, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Wednesday that they would test drive the vehicles for the first time at the convention. “Our friends will make us prouder in the future too and will represent Turkish youth with these projects, which will be promoted abroad. They will prove what Turkish youth are capable of in the fields of science, technology and defense. Our leader (Bahçeli) yearns for a disciplined youth with passion for the homeland, with morals and national conscience,” he said.
Stating that the convention will be the scene of a historic meeting that will showcase the intellectual, technological and moral aspirations of Turkish youth, Yıldırım recalled that the “Turkish Youth Workshop” will be organized prior to the convention. He said that many topics regarding the future of youth, such as education, technology, culture, national identity, the Turkish world, digital transformation, family structure and the fight against addiction, were addressed in the workshop together with academics and experts.
“Our goal here was to establish a youth structure that doesn’t just talk, but produces ideas, develops solutions and shapes the future. We will also share the final declaration of the workshop report we prepared with the public on the day of the convention. In this sense, the technology and innovation fair held as part of our convention, one of its greatest steps, is also of great importance. Because we are directing the energy of our youth not to the streets, but to the future. We want them to be a generation that produces, develops and provides direction,” he said.
Authorities in the central province of Eskişehir issued detention warrants for 60 suspects, and 23 were detained so far on Thursday on charges of corruption in the province’s Tepebaşı municipality.
Among the suspects were deputy mayors of the district where the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) won the 2024 elections. Almost all suspects were municipal bureaucrats, and they are accused of a spate of charges, from embezzlement and forgery of official documents to tax fraud, money laundering and abuse of public duty. Police teams searched the municipality building in the early hours of Thursday.
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Eskişehir said in a statement that the probe followed tip-offs and criminal complaints and was based on evidence regarding the charges, including reports by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK). Prosecutors said the investigation uncovered irregularities in some public tenders launched by the municipality, including fake letters of tender in tenders regarding the acquisition of goods and services, and invoices with inflated fees for goods and services.
The municipalities run by the CHP have been in the spotlight for alleged widespread corruption. Since late 2024, mayors and top bureaucrats of municipalities were detained or arrested for bribery for zoning, construction permits and awarding lucrative tenders in exchange for bribes. Tanju Özcan, media-savvy mayor of the northern province of Bolu who rose to prominence for his anti-migrant rhetoric, is among them. On Wednesday, prosecutors unveiled an indictment against Özcan and 18 other suspects on charges of corruption and bribery. The mayor, who was detained in February, faces prison sentences of up to 263 years if convicted.
The indictment states that Özcan held meetings with representatives of retail chains in his office and requested some companies to sign advertising contracts with a municipal subsidiary. The companies refusing to sign these advertising contracts were subjected to inspections, according to the indictment. Ali Sarıyıldız, chair of a foundation linked to the municipality, who was detained in the probe, confessed to the investigators that süpermarket chains were pressured by the municipality to sign advertising contracts. In another case, prosecutors say Özcan and deputy mayor Süleyman Can asked TL 2.5 million from a contractor in exchange for building permits.
The indictment stated that part of the money was delivered in cash, while another tranche was transferred to accounts of a municipal subsidiary.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was welcomed with an official ceremony by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, on Thursday during an official visit to the Central Asian country.
Erdoğan’s motorcade traveled along a route decorated with Turkish and Kazakh flags before arriving at the Independence Palace, where Tokayev greeted him.
After the introduction of delegations, the two leaders posed for photographs before holding one-on-one talks.
Later, Erdoğan is expected to co-chair the sixth meeting of the Türkiye-Kazakhstan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council with Tokayev.
The two presidents are also scheduled to attend a signing ceremony for bilateral agreements and hold a joint news conference.
The talks are expected to focus heavily on transport and energy cooperation across Central Asia and the Caspian region, areas that have gained increasing importance following geopolitical shifts triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war.
Officials from both countries are expected to discuss the development of the so-called Middle Corridor, a trade route connecting China and Europe through Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus and Türkiye.
Several senior Turkish officials attended the ceremony, including Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat and Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran.
After completing his meetings in Astana, Erdoğan is scheduled to travel to the southern Kazakh city of Turkistan to attend the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) on Friday.
‘Century of Turkic World’
Speaking after talks with Tokayev during the sixth meeting of the Türkiye-Kazakhstan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Astana, Erdoğan said the two countries agreed on steps to strengthen the institutional framework of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
“We are in agreement on providing opportunities that will strengthen our organization institutionally,” Erdoğan said. “Hopefully, we will make the coming period the ‘Century of the Turkic World’ together.”
Erdoğan noted that discussions with Tokayev covered trade, energy, transportation, defense industry cooperation and global issues.
The Turkish leader also congratulated the Kazakh people on Defender of the Fatherland Day and Victory Day, and expressed hope that Kazakhstan’s new Constitution, approved in a March 15 referendum, would benefit the country.
Following bilateral talks in Astana, Tokayev awarded Erdoğan the newly established “Khoja Ahmed Yasawi Medal.”
Erdoğan became the first recipient of the award, which Tokayev announced on April 10 to honor contributions to cooperation among Turkic nations and shared cultural heritage.
Speaking during the ceremony, Erdoğan said he was honored to receive the medal named after Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, the influential 12th-century Turkic poet and Sufi philosopher.
“I see and accept this medal as a sign of high regard for the Republic of Türkiye and our nation,” Erdoğan said, thanking Tokayev for his leadership in advancing ties between the two countries.
The two leaders also attended the opening ceremony of the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi Primary School, built by Kazakhstan in the Nurdağı district of Türkiye’s Gaziantep province after the devastating Feb. 6 earthquakes in 2023.
Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is continuing work on a new civilian constitution aimed at replacing the country’s military-era charter, senior party official Hayati Yazıcı said Wednesday, describing the effort as essential for strengthening democracy and national unity.
Speaking at a “Law and Politics Meetings” event organized by the AK Party’s Ankara branch, Yazıcı said the current Constitution no longer reflects Türkiye’s evolving political and social realities.
“When you value and take into account the nation’s right to make a constitution, it has become necessary to make a more effective and dynamic constitution,” Yazıcı said. “We are working on this.”
Yazıcı, deputy chair of the ruling party, said a commission appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is preparing proposals for constitutional reform and is expected to brief Erdoğan after its next meeting before determining a road map for the process.
The AK Party has long advocated replacing the current Constitution, which was drafted following the 1980 military coup and adopted in 1982 during a period marked by political repression, mass detentions and executions.
Government officials have repeatedly described the charter as outdated and incompatible with Türkiye’s democratic transformation over the past two decades. Calls for a new constitution were also a central part of the AK Party’s 2023 election platform under its “New Constitution for the New Century of Türkiye” initiative.
The proposal envisions a constitutional framework centered on human dignity, expanded rights and freedoms, democratic governance and the rule of law while preserving reforms introduced during the AK Party’s years in power.
Erdoğan too renewed last week his call for a new constitution, saying a “new, inclusive, libertarian and civilian constitution” would offer an opportunity to strengthen Türkiye’s democracy.
Yazıcı said constitutional reform should be shaped by civilian politics rather than tutelage-era institutions.
“The right to make a constitution belongs to the nation,” he said, noting that previous constitutions were drafted under military influence rather than through broad public consensus.
He also emphasized that implementation was as important as legal text itself, saying democratic practices give meaning to constitutional principles.
Terror-free initiative
Yazıcı also addressed the government’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative, reiterating Ankara’s determination to eliminate terrorism from both Türkiye’s domestic agenda and the wider region.
Türkiye is working to advance an initiative to dismantle the PKK, which has waged a four-decade terror campaign that killed over 40,000 people and sowed discord both at home and across the border in Syria and Iraq.
Referring to earlier reconciliation efforts, including the 2012-2014 “solution process,” Yazıcı said the government remained committed to pursuing stability while honoring the sacrifices of martyrs and veterans.
He added that national unity and brotherhood remained the country’s greatest strength and said the government would avoid any steps that could undermine public trust or national sensitivities.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif was quoted as saying that his country may expand its strategic mutual defense agreement with Saudi Arabia to include Türkiye and Qatar.
Islamabad and Riyadh signed the deal in September 2025 in an outreach to the Gulf and cemented their strategic positioning in the international community. Asif, quoted by Pakistan’s Hum News, said their agreement with Saudi Arabia was a regulation for the future.
“If Qatar and Türkiye become a part of this agreement, it will be a good development,” he said.
“This would mean a new order in the economy and defense to minimize dependence outside the region. This initiative aims to create a broader cooperation platform between like-minded states to reinforce regional stability and collective security. The dependence always exists, and all countries depend on other countries for economic and other reasons. But I believe that this agreement does not counter anyone, and it is ultimately for peace. It is crucial to maintain peace in the region,” he said.
Türkiye already maintains good ties with Pakistan and has boosted relations with Saudi Arabia in the past few years. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed earlier this year that they were exploring the formation of a trilateral defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. A defense alliance is crucial for all countries, especially in the wake of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war that threatened already fragile stability in the region.
Pakistan and Türkiye are among the countries playing an active role in the cease-fire in the conflict. Amid the now-frozen conflict, along with Jordan, Iraq and the Gulf countries, states in the region are reconsidering their security strategies, with Türkiye emerging as a potential key partner in defense and military cooperation.
Fidan previously signaled that rising tensions are likely to fundamentally shape the future policies and strategies of Gulf countries, suggesting they may explore new options, particularly in security and defense industries.
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