PKK to disband, potentially ending decades of conflict in Turkiye

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has announced that it plans to disband and disarm, potentially bringing decades of conflict with Turkiye to an end.

The move was reported on Monday by the Firat News Agency, a media outlet close to the armed group. Part of a new peace initiative with Ankara designed to end four decades of violence, the announcement follows a call in February by jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan for the PKK to lay down its arms.Following a party congress in northern Iraq that ended on Friday, the group said it had reached “historic” decisions that would be shared with the public soon.

Firat reported that a statement by Ocalan outlining his “perspectives and proposals” was read during the congress.

In a statement carried by Firat on Monday, the PKK announced that its armed struggle had successfully challenged policies that sought to suppress Kurdish rights.

The PKK has “completed its historical mission”, it read, and “the 12th PKK Congress has decided to dissolve the PKK’s organisational structure and end its method of armed struggle”.“As a result, activities carried out under the name ‘PKK’ were formally terminated,” the statement said.

“If the new PKK decision is fully implemented, shutting down all PKK branches, illegal structures, it will be a turning point,” said Omer Celik, a spokesman for the governing Justice and Development Party, or AK Party.

Shifting regional sands
The announcement signals the potential end of a conflict that has plagued the region, spilling over into northern Iraq and Syria.

In February, Ocalan – who has been in jail since 1999 – called on the group to lay down its arms and dissolve itself in a bid to end the hostilities, which have claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s.