19.08.2025 03:30
In a live broadcast on Haberler.com, Gültekin Uysal, the Chairman of the Democratic Party, made evaluations regarding the "Terror-Free Turkey" process and the decision of the terrorist organization PKK to lay down arms. He stated that the problem Turkey is facing is not solely a terrorism issue and that ethnic separatism, fueled by the PKK, is one of the biggest problems.
News.com live broadcast guest Democratic Party Chairman Gültekin Uysal evaluated the prominent developments in politics and current discussions.
In part of the broadcast, Uysal also made evaluations regarding the 'Terror-Free Turkey' process and the decision of the terrorist organization PKK to lay down arms, stating that the problem Turkey faces is not just a terrorism problem, and that ethnic separatism fueled by the PKK is one of the biggest problems.
The relevant part of Uysal's statements is as follows:
"THE PROBLEM TURKEY FACES IS NOT JUST A TERRORISM PROBLEM"
"Like the first opening process, whatever we call this İmralı process, we have a total objection as the Democratic Party that this process has not been carried out in a proper manner regarding its execution, justifications, and presentation. The problem Turkey faces is not just a terrorism problem. We have a PKK, an ethnic separatist terrorist organization that has made terrorism a tool, using it as a means of pressure to engrave its own ideas into the minds of millions. The problem is ethnic separatism.
Today, we see that the PKK, which has been labeled a terrorist organization internationally, has a very limited operational area under its name. The symbolic act of 30 people laying down arms does not mean it has disbanded. From PEJAK to KCK, to PYD, which we should thank for recently, they were denying it. At least the American Ambassador openly exposed it. He said, 'PKK equals PYD.'
"WE BELIEVE THIS PROCESS WILL NOT YIELD POSITIVE RESULTS"
Now, with this situation at hand, the idea that a PKK has laid down arms in Turkey has not emerged without them laying down arms. Our fundamental objection is that when defining the state-individual relationship in Turkey, the basis of this relationship is citizenship law. The state has no right to define how the citizen defines their own identity, nor to impose it. It has no right to cast a shadow over their political preferences.
Including the East and Southeast, our citizens of Kurdish origin, which I don't even like to use this term, are citizens of the Republic of Turkey. How they define themselves in their own world is their issue. Here, the PKK being presented as the sole representative of our people is problematic. The process conducted in a manner that creates the perception that the PKK fought for you to gain these rights will not yield positive results.
"THERE IS SYSTEMATIC EXCLUSION BY THE STATE IN THIS COUNTRY"
Today, the guarantee of the unity and solidarity of the Turkish nation in Turkey is citizenship law, the principle of secularism, and the principle of the rule of law. If you undermine these, by compartmentalizing, you have no chance of establishing equal citizenship law in these countries, like Iraq and Syria, where we are neighbors to two collapsed countries. Even though the Assad regime has been overthrown in Iraq and Syria, just like in the failed European-style democracies that Turkey is part of, you have no chance of establishing equal citizenship law in these countries. You have rights and laws according to your ethnic and sectarian identity.
Turkey, beyond this, has established equal citizenship law since the Tanzimat period, starting from the Ottoman Empire, but we have established it with the 1856 reform edict. No one has the right to undermine it. This country has its shortcomings, there are deficiencies and mistakes, but today there is systematic exclusion by the state in this country. Against whom? Against those outside the ruling party.
"MAKING PKK THE ADDRESSEE OF THIS ISSUE HAS BROUGHT NO REPENTANCE"
Criticizing the university system that has turned into a diploma factory is one thing, but these disgraceful acts are something else. The system in Turkey has collapsed, equal opportunity has collapsed, the law has collapsed. The state should provide the three fundamental functions of justice, education, and health. You have reached a point where citizens can only obtain these based on their socioeconomic power and political connections. There are no mechanisms for citizens to claim their own rights.
Looking at all of this, we believe that making the PKK the addressee of this issue has brought no repentance. The countless soldiers, police officers, our teachers, from Necmettin Öğretmen to Neşe Alten, our many unnamed heroes, and the people living in the region, as well as those killed by the PKK itself.
Today, the Saturday Mothers are seeking their rights in Galatasaray Square. The families of those killed by the PKK cannot even express their rights in the streets. Why? Because there is a terrorist organization's gun at their backs. From the leadership cadre to the founding cadre of the PKK, from Mehmet Şener to Saima Aşkın, to Çetin Güngör. A different version of the left, represented by Tanar Akçam, has committed murders in Germany and Stockholm for protesting PKK violence.
Now, if a citizen commits a murder in Turkey, you will give them life imprisonment. The state confronts those who have blood on their hands of tens of thousands. Come, let’s talk. Wouldn't a leader of a terrorist organization be politically used while in the hands of the state? Intelligence would use it. It would use it with the information it would obtain.
"PKK HAS DIRECTED ALL ITS STRATEGIC FOCUS TO SYRIA"
As the Democratic Party, we participated in the commission. All of our cities. Now, DEM Party Chairman Tuncer Bakıran has made one of the statements that touch our blood during this process. Our village guards are used to holding guns anyway. They will now become village shepherds instead of holding guns and continue their lives.
When you leave the people living in the region, from the Turkish Republic State and the citizens alongside it, to their own devices, when the terrorist organization takes psychological superiority, there is a kind of romanticism with some of our politicians in power, that if the shadow of the gun is removed, there is a possibility of democratic pluralism, but there is no such possibility.
Today, the PKK already has a very limited presence in the mountains. From the statements of former Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu to the current minister, the statements have already directed all their strategic focus to Syria with the Syrian crisis and civil war over the last 10 years.
Because unexpectedly, under the umbrella of the United States, the PKK terrorist organization, which has turned into a kind of private security company for Western powers, has seized an area with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash aid and thousands of truckloads of weapons aid from the Pentagon budget every year.
"WE CANNOT ACCEPT PKK AS HAVING DISBANDED WHILE KCK AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS EXIST"
What can PKK achieve in northern Syria? There is no meaning in saying that it has disbanded without clarifying this. We cannot accept that the PKK has disbanded while KCK and other organizations exist.
There is no confusion within the organization. Despite the PKK terrorist organization being on Turkey's agenda for so many years, we are not very aware of its nature, hierarchy, and internal workings in Turkey. That place is actually a cult of a PKK leader, Öcalan.
From time to time, there are questions like this: Does the PKK listen to Öcalan or not? I do not believe that it does. Since 1999, especially in recent years, it has various methods and intermediaries to manage the terrorist organization from İmralı, and it has communication networks. We can see this from the documents that have been scattered, served, and disclosed, which we can define as İmralı meetings.
"THERE IS A RISK OF THIS PROCESS TURNING INTO AN ATTACK ON THE UNITY AND TOGETHERNESS OF THE TURKISH NATION"
This process carries a risk of turning into an attack on the unity of the Turkish Nation, the togetherness of the Turkish Nation, and the fundamental values of the Republic. Therefore, against all these risks, we are fighting to express all our objections there on behalf of our soldiers, police officers, civilian citizens, and village guards who have become martyrs for the Turkish Nation. Ultimately, it is established on the parliamentary ground, but we are aware that there can be no tolerance or hesitation regarding terrorism and the fight against terrorism. We express all of this openly and sincerely to our interlocutors.