Öcalan urged the PKK last week to send what he described as “peace groups,” or groups of PKK operatives, to surrender to Turkish authorities. The organization responded to Öcalan’s directive immediately and said in a statement that they will soon be sending three groups of their people from the area around the Kandil Mountains, the Mahmur region and from Europe to turn themselves in. As the groups were about to enter Turkey from the Habur gate yesterday, analysts were hopeful that this move will add momentum to the peace process initiated by the government this summer.“Today presents an important opportunity. If those who surrender are met like ‘ambassadors of peace,’ and not ‘criminals,’ a big distance will have been covered toward the solution of the Kurdish problem,” says Sabah’s Nazlı Ilıcak, noting that those coming from the Mahmur camp and Kandil Mountains are people who have not been engaged in attacks. She suggests the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) should not use this incident as a tool to legitimize the PKK and its leader Öcalan and hence advises the parties to act with reason and common sense.
Recalling a similar case a decade ago, when some PKK members laid down weapons as a sign of goodwill upon advice from Öcalan but were sentenced to heavy prison terms after they surrendered to authorities, Star’s Mehmet Altan says that case was also a historic opportunity that could have opened the way to the solution of the Kurdish problem but it was missed; however, he is hopeful about today’s peace attempt. Altan is hopeful this time because of the determined attitudes of President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding a solution to the Kurdish problem. “In an environment where the PKK gives active support to the Kurdish initiative and the state is determined not to repeat its past mistakes, it seems that peace is entering Turkey from the Habur border gate,” says Altan.
“Twenty-six people, four of whom are children, are returning to Turkey from the Mahmur camp today. They are citizens of the Turkish Republic who left Turkey in 1994 and settled in northern Iraq. This is not only their return here, we are all returning to each other, all together. If we can manage it,” comments Ferai Tınç from the Hürriyet daily.
