(February 13, 2025)
When Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ran for re-election in 2023, he told voters, it would be the last time. Under current provisions, Turkey’s President can only hold office for two five-year terms, but it now appears that Erdoğan will seek a (constitutionally prohibited) fourth term. To achieve this, he will need to find a way to change the constitution, but this can only happen if he succeeds in gaining the support of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party.
(March 5, 2025)
Drawing Kurdish political support away from the opposition and securing Kurdish backing for constitutional reforms would allow him to seek another presidential term.
With 57 parliamentary seats, DEM holds significant sway and can make all the difference if Erdoğan initiates a constitutional amendment process.
“The decision taken by PKK is a historic and important decision, especially in terms of permanent peace and stability prevailing in our region,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a joint press conference with visiting Syrian and Jordanian foreign ministers on May 12 in Ankara.
“We will closely follow the pragmatic steps needed to be taken,” Fidan stated, explaining that the process includes so many details and requires many steps to be taken.
The Kurdistan Workers‘ Party (PKK) on Monday announced its decision to disband and end its armed struggle, following a call in February by its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The Kurdish armed group, which has waged a war against Turkey since the 1980s, said that it had completed its „historic mission“ and brought the Kurdish question to a point where it could be resolved through democratic politics.
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The DEM Party also expects the government to release thousands of its members imprisoned on non-violent charges and to end the practice of unseating its popularly elected mayors.
This incident occurred on the day when the Turkish Parliament was set to reopen after a summer recess. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his address, labeled the attack as “the last stand of terrorism” and reiterated the government’s commitment to establishing a 30-kilometer safe zone along Turkey’s border with Syria to enhance border security.
Both were referring to the notorious triple murders of three Kurdish women activists almost 10 years ago in the same area of Paris that deeply shook the Kurdish diaspora in France.
In January 2013, three activists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers‘ Party (PKK), including one of the group‘s founders, were shot dead at a nearby Kurdish centre in what resembled a targeted attack.
A Turkish man was charged with the suspected assassinations afterwards, but he died in custody in 2016 before being tried.