Shafaq News/ Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan voiced Turkiye'sconcerns over the extensive presence of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inSyria, highlighting its control over significant territory and vital energyresources.
In an exclusive interview with TRT World on the sidelines of the MunichSecurity Conference, Fidan stated, “Not many people know the very fact that thePKK occupies one-third of the entire Syrian land and controls critical energyresources urgently needed by the rest of the Syrian population.”
Fidan described the PKK as an existential threat not only to Turkiye butalso to Kurds in Syria, Iraq, and Iran. “In any state, we cannot have armedgroups who are not reporting to the central government,” he emphasized.
The minister also underlined the importance of regional ownership in thefight against terrorism, stressing that foreign interventions often exacerbateexisting problems. Fidan called for a collective effort to eliminate both PKKand Daesh (ISIS,) saying, “Now, it is time to put an end to terror activitiesof Daesh and PKK… we must get rid of this virus.”
Fidan's remarks came amid ongoing diplomatic efforts for a potentialsettlement to the decades-long conflict between Turkiye and Kurdish militants.On Monday, a member of the pro-Kurdish DEM party delegation revealed thatjailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is working on a “democratic” process toresolve the conflict.
The delegation, which recently met with Ocalan, has held talks with key Turkishparliamentary factions and traveled to Iraq last weekend for furtherdiscussions.
In Iraq’s Kurdistan region, the delegation met with Kurdish leaders,including Masoud Barzani and Nechirvan Barzani, to discuss Ocalan’s initiative.“Mr. Ocalan is working hard to find a process that could lead to a solutiondespite all the difficult conditions,” said Keskin Bayindir, a member of thedelegation. “He is working to remove this issue from the field of war andconflict and establish a democratic and legal process.”
While there is no set timeline for presenting Ocalan’s plan, Kurdishpoliticians are hopeful it will be revealed soon, with some expecting it byNowruz, the Kurdish New Year, in March.
The PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state,with its militants operating in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where Turkiyemaintains military bases. Peace efforts have stalled for nearly a decade, butin October, Turkiye’s nationalist MHP party extended an olive branch to Ocalan,urging him to renounce violence in exchange for a potential early release fromImrali island, where he has been incarcerated since 1999.
The call, supported by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has reneweddialogue to find a resolution to a conflict that has claimed tens of thousandsof lives.
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