ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A senior commander of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said the group will not commit to further disarmament until Turkey makes legal reforms to address discrimination of its Kurdish population, and if Ankara fails to take action, then other groups will emerge and pick up the fight.
“Unless the Kurdish issue is removed from the realm of war, the ongoing struggle will only yield little results, but many groups will continue to perpetuate themselves through this war in Kurdistan,” Cemil Bayik, co-chair of the executive council of PKK umbrella group the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), said during an interview with the PKK-affiliated Sterk TV that aired on Friday.
On May 12, the PKK announced its dissolution and intention to disarm after being urged to do so by their founder Abdullah Ocalan who said it was time to take the struggle for Kurdish rights into the political sphere.
Bayik said one of the PKK’s specific demands of Turkey is to allow Ocalan to work and communicate freely. The PKK’s leader has been jailed in isolation on Imrali island since 1999.
The group is also demanding the Turkish government “develops freedom laws, develops democratic integration laws,” he added. Once that is accomplished, then the PKK will lay down its weapons.
“As long as this doesn't happen, no one can ask us to lay down our arms,” Bayik said.
The PKK has declared a unilateral ceasefire and on July 11 had a ceremonial disarmament where 30 fighters, including commanders, burned their weapons.
Bayik said they opted to burn the guns for several reasons. First, to make a symbolic gesture in the face of an increasing number of arms worldwide and the threat of conflict in the Middle East. Second, because the PKK doesn’t want to “fight or use weapons again. That's why the Turkish state needs to develop a legal basis. If it does, we don't want to use weapons again.”
And third, the weapons were burned in line with Kurdish cultural traditions around fire. “Kurds have a culture in their history; fire represents enlightenment, innovation, and new breakthroughs,” he said.
Ankara has demanded full disarmament of the PKK. The spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Omer Celik, has said that all PKK fighters must lay down their arms within months. Parvin Buldan, a member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and one of the team that has been leading peace negotiations, said that there is no timeline for the PKK’s disarmament “because we cannot solve a 50-year problem in two or three months.”
Bayik said that additional disarmament beyond the ceremony that took place this month will not happen until Turkey makes legal and political reforms.
The peace process will be guided by a parliamentary commission that is in the process of being established. Representatives of the parliamentary bloc of Turkey’s political parties met with the parliament speaker on Friday and the commission will be formed within days. The commission has broad political support, except from the ultranationalist IYI Party.
Bayik expressed reservations about the mandate of the commission, saying that its sole purpose cannot be disarmament.
“If the PKK armed itself, it wasn't because they wanted to use weapons. The Turkish state, through its policies and practices, forced them to do so. That's why the armed movement developed. If they don't want an armed movement, they need to change their policies. Only then will the problem be solved. The issue of weapons alone won't solve the problem,” he said.
Kurds have been discriminated against under successive Turkish governments. At times, their language has been banned and their ethnicity denied. Today, many Kurdish politicians are in jail on vague terror-related charges.
“This movement [the PKK] has a single goal: freedom, democracy, and socialism. It was founded on this foundation when it was founded, and it continues to operate on this foundation,” said Bayik. “This movement will never surrender.”
