PKK announces dissolution
The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) has announced its dissolution and the end of its armed struggle against the Turkish state. The announcement followed a party congress held from May 5th to 7th in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq.
| PKK announces dissolution |
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| PKK announces dissolution |
The PKK, classified by Turkey as a terrorist group, has engaged in armed conflicts with Turkish forces for over 40 years. Clashes peaked in the 1990s, with major flare-ups also occurring in 2015-2016. The announcement of the group's dissolution follows a late February call by PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan urging the group's disarmament.
Öcalan has been imprisoned for 26 years at İmralı Prison, located on an isolated island in Turkey's Sea of Marmara. Following a years-long manhunt including stints in Syria and several European countries, Öcalan was captured by Turkish intelligence officials in Nairobi, Kenya in February 1999.
The armed group announced that details of its dissolution would be released in the near future.
The PKK's Monday announcement also included the news that two of the organization's high-ranking commanders, Fuat-Ali Haydar Kaytan and Riza Altun, had been killed in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
A reboot of the Kurdish peace process began in October 2024 with an announcement from Devlet Bahçeli in Turkish Parliament. Bahçeli, chairman of the ultranationalist National Action Party (MHP), serves as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's primary coalition partner.
Bahçeli's announcement shocked many given the MHP leader's longstanding hostility towards Öcalan and the PKK, having previously called for the group's leader to be executed.
The latest reboot of the Kurdish peace process follows a previous attempt to solve the issue starting in 2012, which included meetings between Turkish officials and Öcalan before talks collapsed in 2014-2015.
In addition to ending conflicts between Turkish forces and the PKK, the initiative has aimed to solve other questions such as mother tongue education rights and democratization in Turkey.
Bahçeli's October announcement included a veiled suggestion that Öcalan could be moved to house arrest should he agree to dissolve the armed group.
Following the PKK's Monday announcement, however, details regarding the leader's rumored move had still not been shared.
The potential release of other imprisoned Kurdish leaders, such as former People's Democratic Party (HDP) chairman and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş, had also been rumored throughout the process but remained unclear as of the group's announcement.
Other details such as the potential expansion of Kurdish language rights in Turkey as a part of the deal also remain unannounced.
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| PKK announces dissolution |
Turkey's domestic politics have been convulsed in recent months by the March 19th jailing of Istanbul Mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu. Major protests followed İmamoğlu's arrest. The Istanbul Mayor is among Turkey's most popular opposition candidates widely seen as the primary challenger to President Erdoğan.
Even prior to İmamoğlu's arrest, opposition-held municipalities across Turkey had been subject to rising pressure in the form of investigations, arrests, and removals of elected officials.
Pressure on opposition municipalities had targeted both those held by the pro-Kurdish DEM Party as well as those held by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).
Many noted the ongoing removal and jailing of Kurdish leaders parallel to the Bahçeli-initiated peace process .
Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç welcomed the PKK's announcement, calling it “an important turning point in getting rid of the scourge of terrorism.”
Communications Minister Fahrettin Altun hailed the dissolution, saying “Turkey has paid various prices, suffered hardships and, most importantly, martyred its sons and daughters for the sake of the homeland until this stage has been reached at the end of more than 40 years.”
DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan also voiced support for the announcement, saying “Now there is no excuse left not to build a democratic Turkey.”
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
Medyascope
