Erdogan says PKK leader’s call to disband a ‘historic opportunity’

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Abdullah Ocalan’s appeal for his outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to disband and disarm was a “historic opportunity” as senior members of the president’s party demanded the dissolution of PKK affiliates in Iraq and Syria.

“We have a historic opportunity to advance towards the objective of destroying the wall of terror”, Erdogan said on Friday, a day after the jailed PKK founder’s statement.

Erdogan said Turkiye would “keep a close watch” to make sure the talks to end the rebellion were “brought to a successful conclusion”, warning against any “provocations”.

“When the pressure of terrorism and arms is eliminated, the space for politics in democracy will naturally expand,” Erdogan said.

Earlier on Friday, Omer Celik, the spokesperson for Erdogan’s governing AK Party, said all groups associated with the PKK, including those outside of Turkiye, should comply with the call.

“Regardless of whether they are called PKK, YPG or PYD, all extensions of the terrorist organisation must dissolve themselves,” Celik said, in reference to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units and its political wing.

“We mean the complete liquidation of the organisation and its ele