Turkish Vice President Yılmaz says resolution process ‘moving forward’

02/10/2026

ANKARA — Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz (Justice and Development Party, AKP) said Thursday that the country’s “resolution process” is moving forward through parliamentary and executive mechanisms, while declining to provide a specific timeline for completing its first phase.

Yılmaz spoke to journalists following the opening ceremony of the new legislative year at the Turkish Parliament, where questions focused on Parliament’s agenda, pending legislation, and the framework surrounding what the government calls the “Terror-Free Turkey” process.

He said the process concerning the Kurdish issue is being conducted through Parliament, where a committee established for the process continues its work. He also said a separate structure and committee had been established within the executive branch.

“Turkey’s progress toward a terror-free future is moving forward on its own course,” Yılmaz said. “As you know, a structure was later established, and a committee was also formed within the executive branch. We held our second meeting there as well, with the participation of all relevant ministers and institutions, and the process is moving forward.”

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Yılmaz said a monitoring committee would be established within Parliament after lawmakers resume their work. He described the mechanism as a model designed specifically for Turkey and stressed that no third party was involved in the process.

“The main element here is parliamentary oversight,” he said.

Asked whether the first phase of the process could be completed before the end of the year, Yılmaz said it was too early to provide a specific timetable.

He said the results reached through the process would be submitted to the National Security Council and that the first phase would be considered complete once the council approved those results.

Yılmaz made his remarks on the sidelines of the opening of the fifth legislative year of the Turkish Parliament’s 28th term. The ceremony was attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and representatives of several political parties, including the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and Yeni Party.

Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş opened the legislative year with a speech emphasizing Parliament’s role in bringing together different political views. Erdoğan then addressed lawmakers.

Yeni Party deputies refused to stand during Erdoğan’s address and left the Parliament building after the national anthem was played.

Yeni Party leader Özgür Özel said, “We do not have time to listen to someone who orchestrated a coup against our party.”

In his speech, Erdoğan called for a new political approach in Turkey, contrasting cooperation around common interests with what he described as a politics of polarization.

“Global and regional developments require a new political approach,” Erdoğan said. “We must either continue with the old political pattern based on polarization or establish a new political approach in Turkey based on finding common ground.”

“Turkey must be the priority for every political party, and politics must be conducted from a Turkey-centered perspective, drawing strength from the country’s internal dynamics,” he added.

Erdoğan also called for political forces to reach consensus on what he described as Turkey’s national interests and issues affecting the country as a whole.

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He thanked Bahçeli for his support for the “Terror-Free Turkey” process and the DEM Party for what he described as its “significant contributions” to advancing the process.

Erdoğan also praised political party representatives who, he said, had provided constructive support both within the parliamentary committee and during General Assembly deliberations on the framework law.

Turning to constitutional reform, Erdoğan said he believed the conditions were in place for Turkey to draft a new constitution that would be democratic, participatory, civilian, and protective of freedoms.

He criticized previous constitutions adopted following military coups, arguing that they weakened the principle of separation of powers and created mechanisms that limited elected authority.

Rather than serving as a framework for unity between the state and society, Erdoğan said, those constitutional arrangements had “deepened historical tensions and contradictions.”