Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in İstanbul on May 16 for possible peace talks. These are the third round of negotiations between the two countries, since the Russian war on Ukraine started in 2022; the previous two were also held in Türkiye with the mediation of the Turkish government. This time, a high-ranking US delegation
The PKK’s decision on May 12 to give up the armed struggle and dissolve itself means crossing another important threshold in terms of the possibility of ending the era of widespread political violence in Türkiye. From now on, even if the process is undermined and fails to produce results, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
In Türkiye, the outcomes of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) disarmament and dissolution congress, convened in response to a proposal by Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli and a call from PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan, are announced on May 12. Central to the process are critical issues such as the modalities of disarmament and
On May 9, Ayşegül Doğan, the spokesperson of the Kurdish-problem-focused DEM Party, was telling reporters that it was only a matter of time before the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) could announce its Congress on laying down arms and dissolving itself. Some half an hour later, the PKK announced that they had convened the Congress
Impatience is growing and nerves are on edge in Ankara because of a recent statement by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) regarding the “laying arms” congress that the President Tayyip Erdoğan administration is waiting for. Following a suggestion by Erdoğan’s ally, the MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, PKK’s founding leader Abdullah Öcalan called on
I have been watching to see who would name it correctly. Finally, it was Tuncer Bakırhan, the Co-Chairman of the Kurdish-problem-focused Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM). The following sentence in Bakırhan’s address to the DEM Parliamentary Group on April 8 seemed like a routine proposal to the government. Still, it contained the actual name
In Türkiye, as main opposition CHP leader Özgür Özel called on the masses who filled İstanbul’s Saraçhane Square despite police batons, pepper spray and threats of arrest to resist the “one-man regime”, US President Donald Trump endorsed Erdoğan as “a good leader”. Trump gave this support during a meeting on March 25 at the White
The agreement announced on March 10 on the Kurdish-base Syrian Defense Forces, SDF joining the Syrian army was brokered by the US, with Ankara playing a secondary role. Nevertheless, Ankara does not want to bind itself to the agreement, saying it is “cautiously optimistic” and will observe whether it is implemented by both the Ahmed
When I was writing my book “Kürt Kapanı (The Kurdish Trap)” about the full story of the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the founding leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Süleyman Demirel, the Turkish President of the time, told me that İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, the Chief of General Staff at the time, had said
The most challenging hurdle was Abdullah Öcalan—who founded the PKK nearly half a century ago—declaring that the organization has run its course and should lay down arms and dissolve itself. This critical threshold was crossed when the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM Party) delegation, visiting İmralı for the third time on February 27, clearly