A Changed Turkiye? PKK Declares End To Decade-Long Conflict (image-twitter/NyraKraal)
After its decade-long conflict with Turkiye, the Kurdish armed group PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) had announced its plan to disband and disarm. This move has come following the call of their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to lay down its arms as a part of its new initiative with Ankara.
This recent announcement signals a potential end to the conflict that had plagued the region which had spilled over into northern Iraq and Syria. In a statement carried out by Firat News Agency, the PKK has announced that they have completed “its historical mission.”
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“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.
PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye and most Western states, announced a ceasefire days later. And in recent years, they had limited their isolated attacks inside Türkiye as the military pushed its fighters across the mountainous border into Iraq.
And this decision has come in the backdrop of a change in power in Syria, weakening of the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon, and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The jailed leader of Türkiye’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, in his letter explaining his call for the dissolution, had stated that the PKK was formed during a period where the Turkish state had restricted Kurdish rights, but that Kurdish identity was no longer denied in the state and there had been “improvement in freedom of expression.”
The PKK had launched its first fight against the Turkish state in 1984, aiming for an independent homeland for Kurds in southeastern Türkiye. However, they had later moved away from separatist goals, instead calling for more autonomy. The group continued its armed violence in several parts of Türkiye.
In 2002, when the AK party came into power, the country, after decades, removed restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language and the free expression of Kurdish identity. However, detractors came forward stating that the state had not gone far enough in granting more rights for Kurds in Türkiye.
However, it has to be highlighted that Ocalan’s momentous announcement in February came in following a new peace effort between the group and the Turkish state. President Erdogan’s coalition partner Devlet Bahceli, at that time, had suggested that Ocalan would be granted parole if his group renounces violence and disbands after initiating the peace talk.
With the recent development, the new move is expected to redefine Türkiye’s relationship with the region’s Kurds in the main neighbouring states.
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However, the future of the PKK fighters remains uncertain, including whether they would be moved to a third country. And it is still not clear if the PKK had obtained any concession in exchange for its decision.
Kurds are an ethnic group native to a mountainous region and they span parts of Türkiye, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Armenia. They are considered to be the largest ethnic group without a state of their own. The majority of them reside in Türkiye.
