ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - All “affiliated groups” of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) must disarm as well, Devlet Bahceli, head of the nationalist MHP party, who spearheaded peace talks with the PKK, said on Sunday, referring to the leading Kurdish forces in north and east Syria.
In a historic initiative to end four decades of armed struggle against Turkey, Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the PKK late last month called on his group to arms and be dissolved.
Since Ocalan’s call, Ankara has repeatedly called for the disarming of other groups that it considers as offshoots to its domestic foe - the PKK, notably Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which makes up the bulk of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Commander-in-chief of the SDF Mazloum Abdi has already welcomed Ocalan’s “historic” call, while explaining that the message was not directed at them, nor would it apply to them.
"The PKK terrorist organization and its affiliated groups must immediately and without preconditions lay down their weapons," said Bahceli.
During a speech to his party’s bloc in the parliament in October, Bahceli offered a surprise peace gesture, proposing allowing Ocalan to appear before the legislature and declare the dissolution of the PKK.
"The fact that the YPG and other similar terrorist groups claim to be exempt from this call... is completely contradictory to the leadership of the organization," Bahceli said in a statement.
Heeding their leader’s call, the PKK announced a ceasefire, saying that "none of our forces will carry out any armed operation unless they are attacked.”
The SDF considered the Kurdish de facto army in Syria and the US’ primary ally in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) in the country, controls the bulk of northeastern and eastern regions of Syria, amounting to a quarter of the country's territory.
Since 2016, Turkey has launched major military operations in northern Syria, targeting Kurdish-led forces, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.
Sporadic clashes have occurred between the SDF and Turkey and its affiliated rebel groups in SDF-controlled areas in northeast Syria since the start of the ex-rebel groups' campaign in late November, which eventually led to the collapse of the Assad regime in early December.
Ankara has said it would press on with military preparations in northern Syria against the SDF until the group is disarmed, claiming that the Kurdish-led force is a security threat to Turkey.
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