2025 in review: The year Türkiye's terror-free resolution started to become a reality
The year marked a historic shift as Türkiye moved from managing terrorism to ending it. But challenges remain as an optimistic nation heads to a new year.
On July 11, when an assortment of weapons laid down by PKK terrorists went up in flames at a ceremonial event in northern Iraq's Sulaymaniyah, it marked a seminal moment in Türkiye's decades-long fight against the scourge of terrorism.
For over 40 years, the promise of a ‘terror-free’ Türkiye hovered between aspiration and uncertainty.
That promise has moved decisively into the realm of reality—shaped by its resolve to dismantle a conflict that defined the country’s security agenda for more than four decades.
Terror-free Türkiye is not a single event, nor a symbolic ceasefire, but the cumulative result of military transformation, political will, regional upheaval, and shifting global alignments.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus puts the issue in perspective.
“We know that the doors have now been fully opened to a process that will ensure no more blood is shed in Türkiye, that people will no longer live in fear, and that peace will prevail,” Kurtulmus tells TRT World.
“This time we will succeed. This time, peace will prevail. This time, well-being will prevail. This time, brotherhood will prevail.”
The repetition was deliberate. In Turkish memory, failed peace initiatives have left scars, and Kurtulmus sought to remove ambiguity, signalling that the state was committed to ending the battle against terror once and for all.
The cost of terrorism
Over the course of four decades, the country has endured a sustained campaign of violence carried out by the PKK—an organisation officially designated as a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States, and the European Union.
This prolonged terror campaign has inflicted a profound human toll, claiming the lives of more than 40,000 people, among them women, children, and even infants.
Beyond the staggering loss of life, the PKK’s terrorist activities left deep social and demographic scars, particularly across Türkiye’s southeastern regions.
For many years, persistent insecurity and fear forced countless civilians to abandon their homes, villages, and livelihoods, migrating to larger cities in search of safety and stability.
Entire rural communities were hollowed out, traditional ways of life were disrupted, and generations grew up displaced from their ancestral lands. The impact was not merely physical but also psychological, reshaping family structures, local economies, and social cohesion.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had stated that the separatist PKK terrorism had imposed an estimated economic burden of nearly two trillion dollars on Türkiye since 1984 – a reflection of the vast opportunities lost to disrupted growth, foregone investments, and delayed regional development.
Today, however, a markedly different picture is emerging. As security conditions improve and stability takes root, a quiet yet significant reversal is underway.
Families are now returning to remote villages and rural districts, rebuilding homes, reviving agriculture, and reconnecting with the land they were once forced to leave behind.
This return is more than a demographic shift; it is a powerful indicator of renewed confidence, safety, and hope.
Experts say that this reflects a broader transformation in which communities long defined by conflict are beginning to reclaim normalcy, dignity, and a sense of future in an environment no longer overshadowed by violence.
How it fell apart for the PKK terror group
On February 27, PKK ringleader Abdullah Ocalan issued a call for the outlawed organisation to disarm, setting in motion the disarmament process.
Turkish authorities treated the call cautiously, aware of past false dawns. Yet this time, the response was different: the call was embedded into a broader, state-driven strategy aimed at finality.
That strategy reached a symbolic peak when PKK terrorists laid down their arms in a public disarmament ceremony. The image resonated deeply inside Türkiye. It was modest in scale, but immense in meaning: a visual confirmation that the conflict was no longer reproducing itself.
The disarmament, however, has its roots in a sustained military campaign against the terror group – operations such as Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch and Peace Spring, which were launched as strategic necessities to neutralise threats from across the border from the PKK’s Syrian offshoot PYD/YPG.
The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria proved to be the final nail.
“Türkiye’s terror-free period should be evaluated together with the fall of the Assad regime in Syria,” says Professor Ozden Zeynep Oktav from Medeniyet University in Istanbul.
Secondly, she highlights the sociological collapse of the PKK inside Türkiye.
“The PKK lost both sociological and military ground within Türkiye — especially after President Trump decided to cut overseas expenditures, including in the Middle East,” Oktav tells TRT World.
“That decision weakened the external environment in which the organisation survived.”
She also points to the developments of March 10, when the new Syrian government led by President Ahmed al Sharaa agreed to integrate YPG-led SDF’s members into the Syrian security structure.
Perhaps most unexpectedly, Europe shifted.
Professor Oktav points out that the war in Ukraine, combined with economic stagnation and security anxieties, pushed EU member states closer to Ankara.
“Western countries—especially EU members—supported Türkiye in its fight against terrorism,” she says, “because their worsening economic conditions and the war environment forced them to reassess their priorities.”
Besides, Türkiye’s military played a big role in the process, Oktav adds, noting that precision warfare, intelligence dominance, and deterrence altered the balance irreversibly.
The big picture
The scholar also places Türkiye’s gains within a broader regional realignment.
“Israel, to a large extent, lost due to its crimes in Gaza,” Oktav argues, ostensibly referring to the groundswell of global opinion against the Zionist state over its genocidal war on Palestinians.
“As a result, both the PKK terror group and Israel emerged as the real losers of this period.”
If military pressure and regional realignment created the conditions, the decisive battleground shifted to Ankara.
PKK terrorists preparing to disarm awaited not only security assurances, but legal certainty—frameworks governing reintegration, accountability, and the final dissolution of armed networks.
Kurtulmus places parliament at the centre of history, framing the process not as a concession, but as an act rooted in democratic legitimacy.
“Brotherhood, justice, and democracy are the three fundamental pillars of the future that we are building,” he says.
He also refers to the country’s shared historical narrative.
“The history of Türkiye is not only the history of Turks. It is equally the history of the Kurds. Together, we must embrace this shared past and pass it on to future generations.”
But challenges remain on the path to durable peace.
A few days ago, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Ankara’s patience was running thin over the SDF’s efforts to delay the integration process.
“We just hope that things go through dialogue, negotiations and peacefully. We don't want to see any need to resort to military means again. But SDF should understand that the patience of the relevant actors is running out,” Fidan said during an interview with TRT World.
The March 10 agreement envisioned the integration of SDF elements into the Syrian national army, eliminating parallel armed structures that had long fueled instability.
For Türkiye, the agreement remains pivotal. A terror-free Türkiye, officials argue, cannot coexist with armed non-state actors entrenched just beyond its borders. A unified sovereign Syrian state free of terror is equally important for Türkiye’s own security.
Kurtulmus says as much.
“A terror-free Türkiye also means a terror-free region,” Kurtulmus tells TRT World. “Ending terrorism in Türkiye means ending terrorism in Syria, in Iraq, in Lebanon—and bringing real peace and security to the region.”
While analysts focus on geopolitics, Kurtulmus also speaks about the human aspect of daily life.
“On these lands…we will witness not the sound of fear, not weapons, not the noise of bombs,” he says, “but the songs of friendship, the melodies of solidarity, and the works of brotherhood. Because the essence of these lands are unity, togetherness, and fraternity.”
“Türkiye will prevail…and we will remove terrorism from Türkiye’s agenda forever.”
It is clear that Türkiye has crossed a psychological, political, and strategic threshold this year—and for the first time in decades, the direction towards peace appears irreversible.
However, one reality is clear: 2025 marked the year Türkiye moved from managing conflict to ending it—and in doing so, redefined both its internal trajectory and its place in a changing region.