The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has declared its disbandment, marking the end of a four-decade armed insurgency against the Turkish state.
The decision was made following a congress held from May 5-7, in response to a call by the group’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, on Feb 27, the group announced today.
Öcalan’s appeal, delivered through a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, urged the PKK to lay down arms and dissolve itself, emphasizing the need for a peaceful and democratic resolution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
The disbandment aligns with a new peace initiative launched in October by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Bahçeli had suggested that Öcalan could be granted access to the “right to hope,” a legal pathway that could lead to release, in exchange for dissolving the PKK.
The conflict, primarily in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish-populated southeastern regions but also extending to other parts of Turkey, as well as Syria and Iraq, claimed more than 30,000 lives, including military personnel, militants, and civilians.
Details to follow…
Source: BIANET
