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In this week’s recap:
Peace process hinges on secrecy and Syria
CHP prepares fourth congress in two years
Domestic and diplomatic wraps
Serbs dunk on sultan, lose anyway
Also from us this week:
Futura D’Aprile on how impunity and rising gun sales are fueling femicides in Turkey
There’s always more: Stüdyo recap is the fastest, easiest way to track Turkish politics
To advance a peace process high on polarization and low on information, a small group of lawmakers entered a restricted area Monday and did not share much afterwards—keeping everyone guessing like they visited Area 51.
As everyone knows, the road to peace is paved with secrecy and all this would make for great comedy if it wasn’t so serious.
To give one example, initial reports indicated the AKP representative, Hüseyin Yayman, did not join the visit as planned. When reporters asked him about it afterwards, he did not respond, saying details would be shared later in a peace commission report.
Eventually, the whole debate was debunked by an X post, the cornerstone of all truths, leaving us to wonder how officials will handle more complicated questions about the process.
To recap: Three lawmakers met with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on Imralı island Monday to discuss ceasefire accords and the future of PKK-aligned militants in both Turkey and Syria. That’s according to a parliamentary statement that framed the outcomes as “positive.”
The trip was approved Friday by the parliamentary peace commission, though CHP and Yeni Yol Party abstained from visit while Yeniden Refah and IYI Party criticized it. (More on the CHP decision below.)
Representatives from the AKP, MHP and DEM Party met with Öcalan, underlining the limited support for at least this aspect of the process, according to Sinem Adar, an associate at the Center for Applied Turkey Studies in the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
Still, Adar told Turkey recap, the visit serves as a step towards reciprocity from the state.
“At this point, the government needed to give something, even if symbolic … especially after the PKK announced withdrawing troops from Turkey,” she said, referring to a declaration in late October.
Syria factor: As noted in the parliament statement above, much of what happens next appears to be linked to developments in Syria—meaning the implementation of the March 10 agreement to integrate the Kurdish-led SDF with the Syrian Army.
In an interview with Mezopotamya Agency, SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi said he hoped to meet with Öcalan to coordinate efforts. It’s not clear if that will happen, though more details about the Syria part of this equation are expected soon.
“Significant assessments were made that will shed light on the solution to the Syria problem,” DEM Party Co-Chair, Tülay Hatimoğulları said regarding the content of the Imralı visit in her speech Tuesday.
She added the discussion between lawmakers and Öcalan resulted in “a perspective that could be the key to the process with respect to Northeast Syria specifically, and to Syria as a whole.”
This leaves a lot of room for interpretation, though Adar homed in on the gap between Ankara and the PKK regarding who is “disbanding and disarming” as part of this process—a point highlighted by Turkey’s defense minister Wednesday in his call for all PKK-aligned groups to “unconditionally drop their weapons.”
“Öcalan has previously encouraged talks between the SDF and the Syrian transitional government, but he never openly asked the SDF to lay down arms,” Adar told Turkey recap. “This is a crucial difference with Ankara.”
Next up: The roughly 3-hour Öcalan visit was reportedly recorded and it’s not yet clear how the minutes will be shared.
According to reporting from Stüdyo recap, lawmakers that visited Imralı will debrief the parliamentary commission in its next meeting, currently scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 4.
Repeat the purpose: CHP prepares fourth congress in two years
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