President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the “Terror-Free Türkiye” process and the PKK’s decisions on dissolution and disarmament during an interview with the U.S.-based Newsweek magazine.

Erdoğan said Türkiye considers the PKK’s decisions to dissolve and lay down its arms an important threshold, while emphasizing that their full implementation on the ground will determine the outcome of the process.

“The organization must lay down its arms with all its elements, the illegal structure must be dismantled, and this process must be identified and verified by the relevant institutions of our state,” Erdoğan said, adding that Turkish authorities are closely monitoring developments.
The Turkish president also said Ankara views the goal of a “Terror-Free Türkiye” as a strategic objective rather than simply a matter of a specific timetable.
Erdoğan’s remarks emphasized that the process cannot be limited to declarations or decisions alone, and that concrete steps on the ground, including disarmament and the dismantling of organizational structures, must be verified by the relevant state institutions.