 as the country’s main threat, issuing a statement that made no reference to the group’s recent claim that it had dissolved itself or to a rare parliamentary visit to its imprisoned founder earlier this week.){kind=link}
Turkey’s top security body said Wednesday it still views the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as the country’s main threat, issuing a statement that made no reference to the group’s recent claim that it had dissolved itself or to a rare parliamentary visit to its imprisoned founder earlier this week.
The National Security Council, chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, met in Ankara for the first time since lawmakers from several parties traveled Monday to İmralı Island to meet with Abdullah Öcalan. The visit took place under a new parliamentary mechanism created after the PKK announced a ceasefire and the end of its armed campaign.
In a seven-point communiqué, the council said the PKK and its Syrian affiliates continue to endanger Turkey’s unity and national security. It pointed to ongoing military operations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq and Syria, repeating language consistent with past years. The statement did not mention the PKK’s self-dissolution announcement or the İmralı visit.
Monday’s visit was carried out under the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission, a 51-member parliamentary body formed to guide political steps after the PKK declaration. The three-person delegation included one lawmaker each from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party). The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the nationalist İYİ (Good) Party and several smaller groups declined to join.
The parliament speaker said the delegation returned with written minutes that will be reviewed by the commission.
Turkey’s conflict with the PKK has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.