Minister Tunç responds to PKK leader Cemil Bayık: There is no condition in İmralı's call.

18.03.2025 13:11

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç responded to the statement made by PKK leader Cemil Bayık, who said, "Öcalan needs to direct and manage the congress. No one else can convene the congress or make decisions there." Minister Tunç stated, "There is no condition in İmralı's call. If the condition of laying down arms is not fulfilled, the fight against terrorism will continue."

Here is the translated HTML content with the text and the `title` and `alt` attributes of the `img` tag translated into English:



```html

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç met with members of the press at the iftar program held at the Ankara Dikmen Judicial House. After the iftar meal, Minister Tunç answered questions from the press regarding the statement made by PKK leader Cemil Bayık: "Conditions for a ceasefire must be met. Then the congress can convene, and the call can be fulfilled. Öcalan needs to guide and manage the congress. No one else can convene the congress or make those decisions."

"IF THE CONDITION FOR DISARMAMENT IS NOT MET..."

Minister Tunç, stating that "there is no condition in İmralı's call," said, "If the condition for disarmament is not met, the fight against terrorism will continue. In other words, it is not possible for the state to give up the fight against terrorism at that point. In fact, even though there is no ceasefire in the call, our Minister of National Defense's statements like 'We cannot accept this' are also relevant. Our goal here is to free our country from terrorism. We have suffered great losses for 40 years, we have lost martyrs, and we have had material losses. A dagger has been plunged into our thousand-year-old brotherhood. Now, when we remove this dagger, what are the necessities that will ensure the healing of that wound? Those depend on whether this call yields results. It is not correct to discuss 'What could the next steps be?' at this stage. This process must not be hindered; this is important for all of us. If the addressee of the call responds positively, terrorism in Turkey will be ended. There cannot be a more important stage than this," he said.

WILL ÖCALAN MAKE A VIDEO CALL ON NEVROUZ?

Addressing the issue of whether Öcalan will publish a message on Nevruz, Minister Tunç stated, "In our Penal Execution Law, the conditions under which prisoners can meet with their relatives and how they can communicate with the outside world are specified. They can send letters, and they can talk on the phone. These are matters stipulated in the legislation. However, it is not possible for him to establish contact via a video call. He can send a letter. Prisoners can write letters, and letters can be written to prisoners. There is currently no such request. If there is a request, an evaluation regarding the letter can be made. If he is going to send a letter to celebrate Nevruz, that letter must be in line with the spirit of this call; otherwise, the call will lose its meaning. Otherwise, you would be tearing up the call. Therefore, it could be a message that does not exceed those limits. If it is something that goes beyond that call, it would be a statement that harms the process. Therefore, I think that path should not be taken," he expressed.