'Genocide' slander from the reconciliation partner!..

Setting aside the four-pronged operation to dismantle the CHP, two issues dominate the agenda: the NATO Summit, and the "stem cell" law planned for the PKK — a piece of legislation set to poison the air — which the government aims to pass before parliament goes into recess.

Remarkably, the parliament — described as the "manifestation of the national will" — will not be working for retirees who are our past, for young people who are our future, for workers who are the country's greatest labourers, or for teachers who deserve to be honoured yet are instead mistreated. It will be working for the PKK.

And what work it will be!.. According to claims, Erdoğan gave the order at AKP's camp held last weekend in Sapanca, saying the law would be passed "directly."

Whether anyone still believes the rhetoric of "absolutely no negotiations with the PKK" is anyone's guess; but it is said that a new formula is being worked out between the government and the terrorist organisation regarding the timing of the law.

While the government had previously decided on "first the laying down of arms, then the law," it has now arrived at the position that "passing the law is a prerequisite for laying down arms" — and a soft transition is reportedly being considered along these lines:

The state side will submit the draft law — which they call a "framework" — to the Speakership of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), and during this process the PKK will begin withdrawing from designated regions... Once the withdrawal is complete, the law will be placed on the General Assembly's agenda... In other words, one step from me, one step from you... Whatever happened to the PKK laying down arms unconditionally? Is even thinking and talking about this not negotiation?!

As is well known, there are also differences of opinion between them on the scope of the law. The government supposedly wants only those who did not participate in terrorist acts to benefit in the first instance, while the "founding leader" and his associates want all terrorists to be included and for the process to be placed on a legal footing. Indeed, Pervin Buldan — who serves both as Deputy Speaker of the TBMM and as İmralı's spokesperson — made her position clear months ago: "It is very important that Mr. Öcalan sees, approves, and accepts this draft." "Because ultimately he will be the one to convince his own organisation... If it is not a comprehensive law, Öcalan and the PKK will oppose it."

Let us underline this emphatically: if it happens, it will not be the first time parliament has worked for the PKK. During the first reconciliation process, the terrorist leader at İmralı threatened, "Otherwise, don't blame me," to have the "Draft Law on the Termination of Terror and the Strengthening of Social Integration" — which he himself had prepared — passed before parliament went into recess. When it was accepted on 10 July 2014, Sırrı Süreyya Önder heaped praise on the terrorist leader: "What no one has ever managed to achieve, you have achieved here — you have made the state pass a law through negotiation."

NATO Martial Law While Terrorists Issue Challenges

While negotiations continue in this vein, gradually acclimatising the public, Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi — who reportedly dreams of becoming Governor of Jerusalem — has already announced, as part of the "terror-free Turkey" process, that a total of 2 thousand 763 checkpoints and search points used by the Police and Gendarmerie have been abolished!..

That is how things stand with the PKK — and yet you are aware of the martial-law-style measures introduced for the NATO Summit. Ankara is one thing, Elazığ another; even the Elazığ Governorship banned all planned indoor and outdoor events aimed at protesting NATO until 12 July, as well as the entry and exit of those wishing to attend such events into and out of the city. While they are at it, why not add anti-NATO sentiment to the list of "catalogue crimes"!..

Meanwhile, let us not forget PKK member Çetin Arkaş, who in 1991 set fire to the Çetinkaya store in Istanbul, killing 12 people — including a 2-year-old child and 8 women — served 33 years in prison, and after being released last July has been given the floor at rallies in public squares. Most recently, at DEM's "Freedom for Öcalan" rally held in Mersin, he said the following about the law being considered:

"If you are going to come back around to a repentance law, turn and look at us, look at the tens of thousands in this square — do we look like people who have repented? Is there anyone in this square who would accept their child coming here repentant, being repentant, and take them back as their child?"

We ask as well: among those who every single day have people detained and arrested on charges of "inciting the public to hatred and enmity," is there anyone who has filed a criminal complaint over this blatant hostility? For instance, what does Mustafa Destici — leader of the BBP, a partner in the People's Alliance, who spoke of "cutting out the tongue" of stand-up comedian Deniz Göktaş, something that would certainly never happen in a "rule-of-law state" — think about this registered terrorist?!

Do They Have No Problem with the Flag and the Anthem?

İYİ Party leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu organised a "Flag rally" in Ankara in response to the "Freedom for Öcalan" rallies; Deputy Interior Minister Bülent Turan reacted as follows:

"Those who hold flag rallies, the people who take to the squares driven by our nation's nationalist sentiments, should know that we lost 40 years. Shall we lose another 40? Which of us loves our flag less than another? Which of us values our flag and our homeland less than another? Just before the meeting started, the computer wouldn't open and we couldn't listen to the İstiklâl Marşı. Did we stop? Did we say something wrong? No. Which of us didn't love it, which of us didn't memorise it? That is why it means nothing for one of our provinces or one of our parties to say, 'I love the flag more.' We want to believe that all 86 million love the flag. We want to take steps together on these matters."

Such are the wishes and hopes — but what about the facts?!

If no one has a problem with the Turkish flag, then why did Mustafa Destici — partner of the People's Alliance — say: "Anyone who does not take the Turkish flag in hand, who rejects it, is my adversary... Did we see a single Turkish flag in the squares at the Nevruz celebrations or at the celebrations of that well-known team?.. There is a moment of silence here, but no İstiklâl Marşı. A moment of silence for whom, then? For Gazi Mustafa Kemal Paşa? For the heroes of the War of Independence? For our martyrs of terror? No."

Was the so-called Kurdish national anthem "Ey Raqip" not sung at a seminar organised by the "Kurdistan Patriots Party" in Batman last December — which People's Alliance partner HÜDA-PAR also attended — at a "Kurdish national platform" meeting in Diyarbakır in March, and again at a conference titled "Our fundamental issue in the context of our existence: becoming a nation" organised by this same platform in Adana on 16 June?

And where do we place the fact that DEM co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan — the government's "fellow traveller" in the reconciliation process — just 17 days ago rejected the Turkish Nation by saying, "The common name is Türkiyelilik [being from Turkey]"?

What Do You Make of DEM's "Genocide" Slander?

As is known, five days ago the Netanyahu cabinet unanimously adopted a motion recognising the so-called Armenian genocide, triggering a wave of condemnation against Israel. Most recently, Erdoğan also accused Israel of slander, saying: "In our history there is no genocide, no massacre, no oppression, no colonialism. In our thousands of years of glorious history there is only justice and compassion."

It appears, however, that they were unaware of the outburst made on 15 June by Yüksel Mutlu, DEM's deputy co-chair responsible for the "Peoples and Faiths Commission." What did he say?

That 15 June 1915 marked "the beginning of the great catastrophe and the process of mass slaughter against the Assyrians, one of the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia," and that they embraced the demand for "recognition of this great destruction" and for "equal citizenship for Assyrians."

In short, it is abundantly clear that the "terror-free Turkey" project is advancing along the equation of "drop the terror, continue the separatism"!..

Müyesser YILDIZ

3 July 2026