Kurdistan | PKK heeds Öcalan's call

After decades of armed struggle against the Turkish state, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) began laying down its weapons on Friday. Thirty PKK fighters, including four commanders, burned their weapons in a cave in northern Iraq, as an AFP reporter observed. The fighters called it a "historic" and "democratic" act. A Turkish government official described the burning as an "irreversible turning point" toward a Turkey "without terrorism."

"We hope this process will bring peace and freedom," one of the PKK commanders said at the ceremony. "Our people need a peaceful, free, just, and democratic life more than ever," he added.

The short ceremony was held this morning in a cave about 50 kilometers west of Suleymaniye in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The site was chosen for its symbolic significance—the cave once housed a printing press for Kurdish newspapers, according to the Kurdish news agency Firat.

"We hope this process brings peace and freedom. Our people need a peaceful, free, just, and democratic life more than ever."

PKK commander at the ceremony

The fighters then wanted to return to their bases in the mountains. The region serves as a safe haven for armed members of the PKK, which Turkey has banned as a terrorist organization.

Among the approximately 300 spectators at the ceremony were representatives of the President of the autonomous Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, and the Iraqi and Kurdish interior ministers. Several Turkish MPs from the pro-Kurdish Dem party, which mediates between the PKK and the Turkish government, were also present. According to Turkish media reports, Turkish intelligence agents were also present.

The Turkish government official described the ceremony as a "milestone" in the ongoing disarmament process. "Turkey remains committed to supporting all efforts for disarmament, stability, and lasting reconciliation in the region," he added.

Jan van Aken, chairman of the German Left Party, was also present at the ceremony in northern Iraq. "The ban on the PKK must now be lifted in Germany as well," he demanded in a statement. He also called on the German government to "play an active role as a mediator in this process, given that people of Turkish and Kurdish origin are the two largest migrant groups in Germany."

The PKK is also considered a terrorist organization in Germany and other Western countries. In Germany, there are repeated prison sentences for, and investigations against, PKK members.

A few hours before the arms laydown, the Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq reportedly repelled two drones. One of the drones was shot down near Suleymaniye late Thursday evening (local time), and the second about three hours later in the Kurki province, a Peshmerga spokesperson said.

By laying down their weapons, the PKK responded to a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan . He had called on the fighters from prison at the end of February to disband and renounce violence. Previously, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his right-wing nationalist coalition partner, the MHP, had surprisingly approached Öcalan in the fall of 2024.

In the event of the PKK's dissolution, they offered the 76-year-old the prospect of early termination of his life sentence, which he has been serving on the prison island of Imrali since 1999. The Dem then mediated. On May 12, the PKK announced its dissolution and declared its decades-long struggle over. The entire disarmament process is expected to take several months.

According to observers, the militarily weakened PKK may have agreed to the peace process to save face. Erdoğan, on the other hand, sees reconciliation as an opportunity to secure another term as head of state .

According to the constitution, he is barred from running again in the 2028 presidential election. However, with the support of the pro-Kurdish Dem, he would have the necessary majority in parliament to call early elections and thus run. Experts such as the president of the German-Turkish Society, Macit Karaahmetoğlu, who spoke to AFP at the end of March, suspect that Erdoğan wants to secure this support through reconciliation with the PKK.

The PKK had fought against the Turkish state and for the rights of the Kurdish population since 1984. More than 40,000 people were killed in the conflict between the PKK and the Turkish army. AFP/nd