President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared that Türkiye has turned a new page in its history, with the 47-year scourge of terrorism entering its final phase after the PKK's recent disarmament ceremony,
Hurriyet reports.
Speaking at his Justice and Development Party's (AKP) 32nd Consultation and Evaluation Meeting in Kızılcahamam on Saturday, Erdoğan said, "As of yesterday, the 47-year terror ordeal has begun to end. Türkiye has started leaving behind a page filled with tears. Today is a new day, a new chapter in history has opened. Today, the doors of the Türkiye Century have swung wide open."
PKK began laying down its weapons in a symbolic ceremony on July 11 in northern Iraq, the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament, as part of the government's "terror-free Türkiye" initiative.
Erdoğan opened his speech with greetings to party members, lawmakers and supporters, extending condolences for recent losses, including his chief advisor Yiğit Bulut, who passed away after a severe illness, and 12 soldiers killed in a methane gas incident.
Erdoğan also marked the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, reaffirming Türkiye's support for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and expressed solidarity with Gaza amid its ongoing crisis.
Reflecting on terrorism's toll since the PKK's first attack in 1984, he acknowledged past state errors, like extrajudicial killings, village burnings and restrictions on Kurdish language, that fueled the conflict rather than resolving it.
"These mistakes cost us dearly, not just in lives, but in economic losses exceeding $2 trillion and damage to our unity," he said, noting how terrorism created a profiteering ecosystem that some exploited.
Erdoğan praised the terror-free Türkiye initiative, crediting steps like producing domestic weapons, purging FETÖ terrorists after the 2016 coup attempt and a careful process led by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli.
