PKK’s military leader announces suspension of withdrawal

Leader of the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Cemil Bayık stated on Thursday that the terrorist organization has halted the withdrawal of its members from Turkish soil to northern Iraq and it will retaliate if the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) attacks.

Bayık recently called on the government to take the steps negotiated during the settlement process, saying Sept. 1 was the deadline. Speaking to a pro-Kurdish news agency on Thursday, Bayık claimed the Turkish government had not taken the agreed-upon steps and the terrorist organization has been “betrayed.”

“The Turkish government has not yet acted. This shows that they are not after a solution. We will defend ourselves. We’re stopping the withdrawal. If they attack, we’ll defend ourselves. If they intensify their attacks, we’ll send back the groups which were withdrawn to South Kurdistan [northern Iraq],” Bayık said.

Speaking to Rohani TV last week, Bayık said the cease-fire between Turkey and the PKK would be broken if the government failed to take action before Sept. 1. “Kurdish people will defend themselves against any danger,” Bayık stated, noting that PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned on an island since his capture in 1999, is calling for democratization efforts for the second phase of the settlement process

Earlier last month, one of the chiefs of the terrorist PKK had said that if the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) continues to behave the same way it has been in the past few months, the ongoing settlement process might be irrevocably damaged. The network of which the PKK is part, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), had changed its top brass in the beginning of July and appointed Murat Karayılan, a long-term senior commander, to a body it calls the People’s Defense Forces (HPG), an armed wing of the KCK. In his initial statements following his new position, Karayılan had said the settlement process began last year in October through talks between the government and the PKK’s imprisoned leader Öcalan. Öcalan called on PKK militants to withdraw from Turkish soil to northern Iraq in a message on March 21, on the day of Nevruz, the spring festival of Kurds. The PKK announced on May 8 that it had begun to withdraw its forces from Turkey. However, the PKK and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) have complained that the government hasn’t fulfilled its part in the process.

The Turkish government has been holding talks with Öcalan under the settlement process since October to find a peaceful and political solution to the decades-old Kurdish dispute and to the armed conflict. Öcalan called on PKK militants to withdraw from Turkish soil to northern Iraq in a message on March 21, on the day of Nevruz, the spring festival of Kurds. The PKK announced on May 8 that it had begun to withdraw its forces from Turkey.

The first step in the negotiated solution is a cease-fire and the withdrawal of PKK forces, the second is constitutional and legal amendments and the third is laying down arms. Since the negotiations started between the Turkish government and the PKK’s imprisoned leader, the militia wing of the PKK withdrew some of its members from their hideouts in southeast Turkey. However, the PKK has recently threatened to resume its terrorist activities if the government fails to implement the second phase of the process at the earliest time.