HistoryofTruth.com - Armenian Allegations

The National Security Council (MGK) convened yesterday at the “ankaya Presidential Palace for a meeting focused on the government’s recent efforts to settle the Kurdish issue and the process of Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, which has recently gained momentum with an agreement signed between the two countries.

October’s regular MGK meeting came just after the surrender of a group of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to Turkish authorities on Monday, which was evaluated by many as a move to strengthen the hand of the government in its recently launched democratization package to end the country’s decades-old Kurdish issue. On Monday evening, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a meeting with ministers attending the MGK to evaluate the PKK’s move. Following this meeting, which lasted almost an hour and a half, Erdogan also met with National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Undersecretary Emre Taner at the Prime Ministry to discuss the PKK’s action.

Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the terrorist PKK, who is serving life in prison on'm rali Island, urged the PKK last week to send what he described as “peace groups” to surrender to Turkish authorities. Eight members of the PKK, four women and four men, the eldest being 57 and the youngest 24, joined a larger group coming from the Makhmur refugee camp in northern Iraq. The total number of people in the group was reported to be 34.

In the meeting Erdogan held with ministers on Monday, top government officials reportedly concluded that the initiative process has started to be controlled by the PKK with Parliament failing to address the issue. Sources close to the government said this conclusion was also voiced at the MGK meeting.

Another main topic of yesterday’s MGK meeting was the agreement signed on Oct. 10 in Zurich between Turkey and Armenia to start internal political consultations to establish diplomatic relations and develop bilateral relations. The protocols, which must be ratified in order to go into effect, envisage internal political consultations being concluded within six weeks. The Turkish government favors the ratification of the protocols simultaneously with the Armenian parliament. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu briefed the meeting’s participants about the current process regarding relations with Armenia.

Another issue the meeting covered was the recent tension between Turkey and Israel, which escalated after Israel’s exclusion from the Turkish military’s Anatolian Eagle exercise and Israel’s protest about “Ayrılık,” a television drama aired by the state-owned Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) that depicts the suffering of Palestinians.