Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has welcomed the announcement of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of their disbandment, praising it as a “historic threshold” for Turkey and thanking the group’s imprisoned founder, Abdullah Öcalan, for assuming this “historic responsibility”.
In a lengthy statement issued on Monday following the PKK’s decision to dissolve itself and lay down arms, Bahçeli said: “The seeds of peace, sown with labour, patience and sacrifice across every corner of the Turkish homeland have been watered with hope and have finally germinated”. He added that the bloodstained chapter of conflict, ongoing for 47 years, may now be “closed for good”.
Bahçeli explicitly acknowledged Öcalan’s role in the process, citing the latter’s 27 February appeal from İmralı Island Prison as a key moment. “With his call for peace and a democratic society, he assumed a historic responsibility,” said Bahçeli, who had previously suggested Öcalan be allowed to declare an end to the armed struggle in parliament if his isolation was lifted.
The PKK’s 12th Congress, held from 5–7 May, resulted in a declaration of the organisation’s dissolution. This marked the culmination of a new round of indirect peace talks, which had restarted in late 2024 with the involvement of government-linked delegations, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, and Öcalan himself.
Calling for caution in the post-conflict period, Bahçeli emphasised the need for “an atmosphere of permanent and realistic peace and an environment of security”. He warned that the following issues must be addressed urgently:
• The timeline, scope and verification mechanisms for the disarmament process;
• Potential crossovers from the PKK to affiliated groups such as the PYD/YPG in Syria;
• Legal distinctions between militants involved and those not involved in criminal acts;
• Measures concerning the PKK’s leadership cadre;
• The framework for political and legal reforms to reinforce civil politics and national unity.
Bahçeli also urged an end to “cheap polemics” and “ideological fixations” that could undermine reconciliation efforts. “Let no one doubt that the torch of a terror-free Turkey has been lit. The victors today are peace and democracy,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, government officials, the Turkish Armed Forces, DEM Party co-chairs and MPs, as well as Abdullah Öcalan and all those who contributed to what he called a national achievement. He also paid tribute to the late Sırrı Süreyya Önder, a former parliamentarian and member of the İmralı shuttle delegation, who passed away on 3 May.
Referring to the decades of conflict that began with the PKK’s first attack in 1984 in Eruh (Dihê) and Şemdinli (Şemzînan), Bahçeli framed the dissolution as a step towards lasting unity. “Turks and Kurds have always shared a common fate. No internal or external force will break this bond.”
The government has yet to detail how the disarmament process will be implemented, monitored, or legally framed, but senior figures within the ruling alliance have described the PKK’s decision as a turning point for the Republic in its second century.
