At the top of the agenda, the deadly attack on the facilities of the Turkish Aerospace Industry in Ankara by Kurdish terrorists. Response from Istanbul

The cross-border operations of the MIT and the Turkish army against the PKK in northern Iraq and Eastern Syria are also topics in the cabinet. Rising tension in the Middle East will also be on the agenda. However, the theme that dominates since last week is the unexpected political turn of the Turkish leadership with a new goal to peacefully solve the Kurdish issue, a matter of division and bloody war that lasts more than a century and with its newest phase starting from 1978 with the founding of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party by Abdullah Ocalan and the declaration of an armed struggle that continues to this day.

It is the third time that the Turkish state under the leadership of Erdogan has tried to solve the Kurdish issue. The previous two failed, the third brought the so far arch-enemy of the Kurds, far-right nationalist Devlet Bakhceli, Erdogan’s government partner, to the forefront of asking the imprisoned in Imrali prison, Abdullah Ocalan to order his fighters to lay down their arms and himself to declare the dissolution of the organization. The first reactions from the PKK camps in Northern Iraq and Eastern Syria were positive as Ocalan is still the undisputed leader of the Organization.

The Bahtceli proposal also includes a favorable legal treatment for Ocalan, however the APO is reportedly setting two conditions to accept the proposal: there must be a guarantor country and a legal guarantee for him. The pro-Kurdish party DEM held a meeting and issued a long statement where, among other things, it emphasizes that one of the first and most important steps to make peace is the lifting of Ocalan’s isolation, which is a special practice of the just war.

The DEM’s response seems to have disappointed the pro-government media who point out that the announcement does not say anywhere that they will “lay down their arms”. Other analysts believe that this move by Erdogan with the help of Bakhceli should be taken seriously but they want to see what will happen next. Many do not consider that a peaceful initiative to resolve the Kurdish issue could secure Erdogan’s political future in the presidency with the votes of the DEM, which in the parliamentary elections of 2023 gathered 8.82% of the votes.