Iraqi Kurdistan president says PKK’s decision to disband boosts regional stability

The president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Nechirvan Barzani, welcomed Monday the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) decision to disband and end its armed struggle against Turkey, saying it would strengthen regional stability.

The PKK decision “demonstrates political maturity and paves the way for a dialogue that promotes coexistence and stability in Turkey and the region,” Barzani said in a statement.

It “lays the foundation for a lasting peace that would end decades of violence, pain and suffering,” he added.

He said that the autonomous Kurdistan region is ready to support efforts to guarantee the success of “this historic opportunity.”

The Barzani family, who leads the region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is a crucial powerbroker in Kurdish affairs and has close ties with Turkey.

The Kurdish armed group announced on Monday its dissolution, saying it was ending its armed struggle against Turkey and drawing a line under its deadly four-decade insurgency.

The historic announcement came after an appeal by the group’s founder Abdullah Ocalan, who on February 27 urged his fighters to disarm and disband in a letter from Istanbul’s Imrali prison island, where he has been held since 1999.

Blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, the PKK operates rear bases in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, where Turkey also maintains military bases and often carries out air and ground operations against the Kurdish militants.