President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on Aug. 6, a day after a government-backed draft law aimed at supporting the dissolution of PKK was submitted to parliament.
The meeting in Ankara was expected to focus on the latest developments in the government’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative and the legislative framework designed to support the process.
Submitted to parliament on Aug. 5, with the signatures of around 360 lawmakers, the draft law is intended to establish the legal basis for the process, which includes PKK laying down its arms and ending its decades-long armed campaign.
Parliament is expected to begin reviewing the proposal on Aug. 7. The ruling bloc aims to complete the process no later than Aug. 11, according to local media reports.
Later on Aug. 6, Erdoğan will chair a meeting of the National Security Council (MGK), with the anti-terror campaign expected to be a key item on the agenda.
The MGK is expected to play a significant role in monitoring the process, with intelligence reports from the field on PKK’s disarmament efforts to be assessed alongside the implementation of the draft law. The process will also be subject to the council’s evaluation.
The council is also expected to discuss wider regional and international security issues, including diplomatic efforts to resolve the ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran and navigation security in the Black Sea.
Developments in Cyprus, the situations in Syria and Iraq, Israel’s military actions in the region and the war in Ukraine are also among the issues expected to be addressed during the meeting.
