ISTANBUL — In a historic development that could reshape the political and security landscape of the Middle East, the PKK Kurdish militant group announced Monday it will formally disband and disarm as part of a new peace initiative with Turkey, effectively ending one of the region’s longest and deadliest insurgencies.
The decision by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party — announced through the Firat News Agency, a media outlet affiliated with the group — follows a party congress held in northern Iraq and comes after a formal call by imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan for the group to end its armed struggle.
“As a result, activities carried out under the name ‘PKK’ were formally terminated,” the group said in its statement, which declared the end of its “organizational structure.” The announcement signals the conclusion of a four-decade conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s and has deeply influenced politics and security across Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.
Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence on an island prison near Istanbul since 1999, had in February urged the PKK to convene and formally agree to disband — a significant move seen as a cornerstone for peace. The group responded with a unilateral ceasefire on March 1, though it demanded the establishment of a legal framework for future peace negotiations.
The congress determined that the PKK’s armed resistance had fulfilled its mission by elevating the Kurdish issue to a political platform, stating the struggle had “brought the Kurdish issue to the point of resolution through democratic politics.”
While the group’s announcement marks a profound turning point, critical details of the peace initiative remain unclear. It is unknown how the disarmament process will be managed, who will oversee the disposal of weapons, or what will happen to PKK fighters currently operating across the region. The possibility of relocating militants to third countries or granting amnesty remains unresolved.
This peace push comes amid regional upheaval, including the rise of a new government in Syria, setbacks for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. In recent years, Turkish military operations, including drone strikes, have significantly weakened the PKK’s presence inside Turkey, pushing many of its fighters across the border into northern Iraq.
The initiative was first floated last October by Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and coalition partner to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bahçeli proposed that Ocalan could be considered for parole if the PKK renounced violence and agreed to dissolve — a notion that would have been politically unthinkable just a few years ago.
Although previous peace efforts, most notably the collapsed negotiations in 2015, have failed to produce lasting results, the PKK’s formal declaration to disarm marks an unprecedented shift. Whether this bold step can be converted into a sustainable and verifiable peace remains to be seen.
AP
