Şırnak/Anadolu

Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said his country will soon permanently close the terrorism file through laws to be enacted by the parliament, in parallel with the PKK terror organization completely laying down its arms and dissolving itself.

He made the remarks on Sunday during an event held on Mount Cudi in Şırnak province, southeastern Turkey.

Referring to the towering mountains of Şırnak, Kurtulmuş said: "As of today, these mountains will become a land where peace, brotherhood, humanity, tranquility, and the future are built."

Kurtulmuş reviewed the work of the parliamentary commission tasked with monitoring the dissolution process of the PKK, explaining that the commission, formed last summer, prepared a report following what he described as successful consultations.

He added that the report drew a roadmap on this issue, with the consensus of all parties represented in parliament.

He continued: "God willing, the work required by this report will be completed before the end of this summer. With the terror organization completely laying down its arms and dissolving itself, and with the laws to be enacted by the Turkish Parliament, the terrorism file will be permanently closed, and unity and solidarity will prevail in this country."

He pointed out that "those who were placed in their hands, inside this country, weapons and bombs made by others, were sent to the mountains at a young age, and many of them were killed there."

He added: "The Lord of the Kurds is the same as the Lord of the Turks. There is no cultural or religious specificity that differentiates Kurds from Turks. Nothing distinguishes the descendants of Saladin from the descendants of Kilij Arslan and Alp Arslan."

Following Kurtulmuş's speech, Turkey's Head of Religious Affairs, Saffet Arbağuş, recited a prayer, and then a dove carrying an olive branch was released, in a symbolic gesture of peace.

On May 12, 2025, the PKK terror organization announced its decision to dissolve and lay down arms, in response to a call from its founder, Abdullah Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence in Turkey.

Öcalan had called at the end of February 2025 for the dissolution of all PKK-affiliated groups and the end of its terrorist activities that have been ongoing for more than 40 years.

On July 11 last year, a group of PKK terror organization members destroyed their weapons in the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah.