Erdoğan Confident Anti-Terror Campaign Will 'Succeed'

"Our stance is clear. We will continue to embrace all of Turkey. Our party, our alliance and our state are fully committed to building a terror-free Turkey first, and then a terror-free region,” Erdoğan told ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmakers during a weekly meeting in parliament.

Under the initiative, PKK first declared a ceasefire, then announced its decision to lay down arms and dissolve itself. A first group burned its weapons in July, and the terror group declared its withdrawal from Turkish territory in late October.

"The [ruling] People’s Alliance is united in ideas, understanding and consensus… God willing, we will succeed this time," Erdoğan said. “That's why we are taking a political risk."

Erdoğan used the address to rebuke Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel over comments interpreted as criticizing the consensus between the ruling bloc and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party). 

"One should have some shame, some embarrassment. Even if you don’t know Turkey, even if you don’t know foreign policy, one should at least know one’s own past, one’s own dark record,” he said. “Now, I have to ask this gentleman: Have you never in your life read the CHP’s shameful history?”

Özel later said his remarks had been misunderstood.

"You may not know who the executioner is and who the victim is, but my Kurdish brother knows very well… Mr. Özel should not distract the issue. If he has the courage and wants to see an executioner, let him look in the mirror," he said.

"Its leadership has changed, but the CHP can’t shake off its habit of viewing everything through the lens of self-interest… My Kurdish friends are just a vote bank for them. But they won’t buy it anymore."

Erdoğan reiterated that the AKP would “continue to embrace all of Turkey” and every citizen “with the same sincerity and affection.”

The DEM Party has long maintained channels with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and was the first to propose sending a cross-party delegation to the İmralı prison island as part of the initiative. The move quickly gained support from ruling bloc partner, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Representatives from the AKP, MHP and DEM Party visited Öcalan on Nov. 24, while the CHP declined to participate in the trip. 

Meanwhile, Erdoğan and French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone call earlier in the day focusing on the Ukraine war and regional crises.

The call touched on a wide spectrum of global developments as well as cooperation between Ankara and Paris, Erdoğan's office said in a statement.

On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Erdoğan said Turkey is “working at maximum effort” to support a just and lasting peace and that Ankara continues its dialogue with both sides. Turkey, he said, remains ready to “make every possible contribution” to open a path toward negotiations.

He added diplomatic channels must be used effectively to achieve peace and avoid actions that could destabilize the global environment and would support ongoing ceasefire efforts.