In the Winter Olympics, a wolf dog joined a ski race. In Izmir, a lamb joined a triathlon.
And in Fatih, rose water joined the preparations. Ramadan Mubarak to all who celebrate.
In this week’s recap:
Vague report advances PKK peace process
Öcalan calls for “Democratic Integration”
Domestic and diplomatic wraps
Turkey trades horses for horsepower
Also from us this week:
Ioannis Grigoriadis joined Recap radio to review Turkey-Greece relations
Wouter Massink explains Turkey’s cost of living crisis with seven charts
And those who want more can subscribe to our daily newsletter on Turkish politics
Like your average Netflix series, the Turkey-PKK peace process released another episode with just enough content to keep us watching, but without delivering a sense of fulfillment or satisfaction for just about anyone.
The parliamentary peace commission voted Wednesday to approve a report laying the theoretical groundwork for legal reforms. The move advances a process seeking to end Turkey’s longest-running conflict, but the text falls short of addressing the causes and practical remedies for the nation’s so-called “Kurdish issue”.*
And let’s not forget the irony of debating democratic reforms while the nation’s main opposition candidate is in jail for a dozen-or-so investigations.
*Disclosure: Before we start, let me repeat that my wife is a DEM Party MP.
The report text begins by notably reframing the peace process not as an initiative brought to parliament by MHP chair Devlet Bahçeli on Oct. 1, 2024 —the common media narrative—but as one introduced a few days earlier by Pres. Erdoğan at Malazgirt.
Transferring credit to the Turkish leader alone increases the likelihood of success for the process. The question of what exactly the process aims to achieve, though, remains undefined by the report, which might be normal considering the sensitivity of the issue. Here’s a review of the text:
Included: Many references to preserving the security and integrity of the Republic. The most concrete sections (5,6 and 7) establish the need to disarm and reintegrate PKK militants while also introducing legal and democratic reforms.
Excluded: References to a “Kurdish issue” and the “right to hope”—or early release from life sentences—as well as peace process norms like international mediators, a truth and reconciliation commission, an implementation commission, missing persons units and references to mother tongue education, which is the core of the “Kurdish issue”.
Throughout, mentions of the brotherhood between Turks and Kurds are present, likely to avoid appearances of favoring one group over the other.
The text is a balancing act, and close observers will have heard much of it before, but one more point worth noting (section 7.1) is the emphasis on strengthening mechanisms “to ensure full compliance” with European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings, which has implications for jailed Kurdish politicians and many others.
A day prior, in a complicated X post, MHP deputy chair Feti Yıldız referenced compliance with ECHR rulings as a possible bridge to “conditional release” (a term he prefers over the “right to hope”) for certain prisoners in relation to the peace process. But everything depends on how legal frameworks are crafted and applied.
Reactions: Today’s Stüdyo recap has a comprehensive breakdown of the responses to the report, which was approved on a 47-2 vote with one abstention.
CHP MP Türkan Elçi said she abstained because the report did not include provisions for investigating unsolved murders. Meanwhile, TIP MP Ahmet Şık voted “no”, stating:
“There is a Kurdish issue in Turkey. A political mindset that denies this reality is now presenting us with claims of a solution.”
For their part, DEM Party released a statement Wednesday arguing the Kurdish issue cannot be defined through “terrorism”. Put more simply, their argument is that a political problem (denial of Kurdish rights and language) created a terrorism problem, and not the other way around.
PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s reply is analyzed in detail below, but to wrap this section, Erdoğan pointed to the road ahead in a statement Wednesday:
“Now, discussions on the legal aspects of the process will begin in our parliament,” the Turkish leader said. Lawmakers told AFP deliberations would likely begin after Ramadan.
Analysis: Hürcan Aslı Aksoy, a senior fellow at Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS), said the next steps may involve legal measures to regulate the return of disarmed PKK members to Turkey as well as the release of sick and elderly prisoners.
Elected officials may also be reinstated in some Kurdish-led municipalities currently managed by state-appointed trustees. Though she noted the full implementation of civil liberties will be difficult.
“For the compliance with ECHR rulings, the implementations were applied arbitrarily, so isolated positive steps are insufficient,” Aksoy told Turkey recap. “What is required is a change in practice.”
As things stand, PKK militants anticipate reciprocity for disarmament while opponents of their reintegration hold doubts towards pledges for peace and democratization. Aksoy underlined the tension between the expectations and limitations of the government in the coming period.
“A lack of communication can fuel nationalist backlash on one side and disillusionment on the other, increasing the risk of renewed escalation,” she said. “For permanent progress, institutionalization, transparency, inclusion of civil society and a shift from conflict management to political transformation are needed.”
Regarding DEM Party’s role, Aksoy said politicians must “clearly explain” their expectations for cultural rights and democratic participation.
“This means, [in addition to] presenting the demands of the Kurdish people, explaining those to the rest of the society and establishing monitoring mechanisms,” she continued. “But it’s a very challenging task in the shrinking political space under an authoritarian governance.”
Go deeper: Öcalan calls for “Democratic Integration”
