The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced a ceasefire on 13 April 2009, declaring they would only retaliate in self-defense. The ceasefire was encouraged by the electoral success of the

Democratic Society Party The Democratic Society Party (, DTP, Kurdish: ''Partiya Civaka Demokratîk'', PCD) was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social-democratic and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was c ...

(DTP) in the municipal elections of 2009. Then in May 2009, the president of the

Kurdistan Communities Union The Kurdistan Communities Union (, KCK) is a Kurdish political organization committed to implementing Abdullah Öcalan's ideology of democratic confederalism. The KCK also serves as an umbrella group for several confederalist political parties o ...

(KCK) Murat Karayilan released a statement supportive of an eventual peace process. Later, the PKK prolonged the ceasefire on 1 June until 15 July 2009. On 15 July the DTP organized a manifestation in support of a peace process which was attended by tens of thousands of people in Diyarbakir, and the PKK again prolonged their ceasefire until 1 September 2009. The Human Rights Association (IHD),

Freedom and Solidarity Party The Left Party (, often written as SOL Parti) is a secular, socialist political party in Turkey. The Party was founded after the Freedom and Solidarity Party () decided to change its name to the Left Party at the 8th Extraordinary Congress held ...

and the Labour Party also supported a potential peace process. This then made way for the Kurdish initiative (also called ''Kurdish Opening''), which was announced on 29 July 2009 by

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

Beşir Atalay Beşir Atalay (; born 1947) is a Turkish politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey in the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from 2011 to 2014. Previously he was minister of interior from 28 August 2007 to 14 July 2011. Early years an ...

and became a very discussed topic on the Turkish political agenda. President

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th president of Turkey from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister of Turkey, Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently s ...

and prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

both supported the process at the time, but their approach was different, while Gül met with the DTP leader to discuss the developments, Erdoğan refused to meet with representatives of the pro-Kurdish DTP. Atalay was assigned with the coordination of the initiative and began to organize meetings with the journalists and NGOs to discuss a solution for the Kurdish Turkish conflict. In October 2009, more than 30 members of the PKK coming from the

Makhmour refugee camp The Makhmur refugee camp (also spelled Makhmour or Maxmur) was founded in 1998, and is located in the Makhmur District, some 60 Km southwest to Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG). About 12,000 Kurdish refugees, who fled t ...

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...

, crossed the

Habur border crossing Ibrahim Khalil (, ) is a border crossing point between Turkey and Iraq. It is also called the Habur Border or Frontier Gate in English. Before the control point and gate there is a bridge crossing the Khabur river, which forms the natural border ...

and turned themselves in to the Turkish authorities in support of the Kurdish opening by the Turkish government. The militants were questioned but released, which caused an uproar in the Turkish society. On 13 November 2009, Beşir Atalay informed the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

about the initiative in more detail, and faced opposition by the CHP and its leader

Deniz Baykal Deniz Baykal (20 July 1938 – 11 February 2023) was a Turkish politician. A member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in numerous governmen ...

. Baykal mentioned the project would potentially bring division to the Turkish Republic. The Turkish Government wanted to achieve an amnesty for PKK members who repented according to article 221 of the Turkish Penal Code, for which it was in need of the support of the opposition parties CHP and MHP in addition to that of the pro-Kurdish

(DTP). But the project was met with opposition by the CHP and the MHP due to nationalist concerns. On 7 December 2009 an attack killing 7 Turkish soldiers in Resadiye,

Tokat Tokat is a city of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is the seat of Tokat Province and Tokat District.

occurred, for which the PKK claimed responsibility. On 11 December 2009, the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

voted to close the DTP for being a center of activities against the unity of the state. The closure resulted in the banning of 37 DTP members from politics for five years, including two members of parliament. Between December 2009 and February 2010 dozens of Kurdish politicians in several districts were arrested. By June 2010, the PKK announced the cease fire was over due to the continued persecution of the Kurdish population.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-2010 Kurdistan Workers' Party ceasefire Ceasefires Kurdish–Turkish peace process Kurdistan Workers' Party