Car set on fire outside Turkish Parliament ahead of PKK disarmament talks
A car was set ablaze outside Türkiye’s parliament on Tuesday, just hours before families of victims of the decades-long conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were scheduled to address a parliamentary commission overseeing the group’s disarmament.
The PKK, which began its armed insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, announced in May that it would disarm and dissolve. Earlier this month, Türkiye established a parliamentary commission tasked with guiding the process toward lasting peace, a development with potential implications for Iraq and Syria as well, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The white Renault Toros caught fire briefly outside the parliament’s main gate in the morning. Police said the man detained for setting it alight had psychological issues and a prior criminal record.
The incident evoked memories of the 1990s, when similar vehicles became notorious in Türkiye’s mainly Kurdish southeast for their association with abductions and extrajudicial killings blamed on state-linked groups. More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict over four decades.
Relatives of slain security personnel and civilians were expected to testify before the commission later in the day, with some likely to voice skepticism over the peace process.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States, and the European Union, is based in northern Iraq. Last month, some militants symbolically burned their weapons in a ceremony, following calls from jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to end the insurgency.
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