Erdoğan vows unity after 'terror barrier' is broken

VAN

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised on Jan. 25 that Türkiye would become more united once his administration succeeds in eliminating the "terror barrier."

“After we completely save our country from the terror scourge that has been sucking our blood for 40 years, God willing, we will move toward our goals with rapid steps,” Erdoğan said at an event in the eastern city of Van.

The meeting was part of a series of provincial gatherings leading up to his ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) major congress scheduled for Feb. 28.

"When the terror barrier that has been drawn between 85 million people breaks down, we will embrace each other more tightly and be more united," Erdoğan stated. "We will realize our goal of a terror-free Türkiye one way or another."

The president said the Turkish military’s operations against PKK and the “advantageous climate in the region” following the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria create an opportunity to resolve the long-standing terror issue.

"Our wish is for this to be resolved calmly and peacefully. However, if different calculations are pursued here, we will continue our fight against terrorism much more determinedly," he remarked.

“We are one, together, brothers on these lands. We will struggle to make 85 million people, regardless of whether they are Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Alevis or Sunnis, live together in brotherhood and embrace them with affection."

Erdoğan's remarks came amid rare talks between jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and a delegation from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).

The group, consisting of lawmakers Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Pervin Buldan, visited Öcalan on Jan. 22 for the second time in less than a month.

"We are not pursuing raw dreams, but the great goals we have been longing for for centuries," Erdoğan said. "We manage the processes guided by a thousand-year heritage and a century-old vision."

The initial talks with the PKK leader, serving a life sentence on the İmralı prison island off Istanbul, were the first since members of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party’s predecessor, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), met with him in April 2015.

It became possible after Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli invited Öcalan to come to the parliament to renounce terror and disband PKK. Erdoğan, his ally, backed the appeal as a "historic window of opportunity."

After the delegation returned from İmralı, a DEM Party statement said Öcalan was "ready to make a call" to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end decades of conflict.

PKK is listed as a terror group by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union.