On Saturday, the Kurdish guerrilla group responsible for a prolonged insurrection against Turkey declared a cease-fire. This decision came in the wake of a request by its imprisoned leader to disarm and dissolve the organization. The call for a cease-fire has sparked hopes that the decades-long conflict, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands, might finally come to an end.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., announced that the cease-fire would take immediate effect. Additionally, the group demanded the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the P.K.K.’s founder and leader, who has been in a Turkish prison for 25 years. They believe that Ocalan should oversee the group’s dissolution.
Two days earlier, Ocalan had stated that the group had outlived its purpose and should dissolve. This message from a leader with significant influence over Kurdish fighters in Turkey and beyond, including in Syria and Iraq, is noteworthy.
In a statement carried by Firat News Agency, a P.K.K.-linked news site, the group declared that its forces would refrain from armed action unless attacked.
If the P.K.K. complies with the cease-fire, lays down its arms, and disbands, it would remove a significant security threat for Turkey and be a major political victory for its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, many questions remain unanswered, such as who would monitor the truce, what would happen to the fighters who disarm, and what concessions the government might offer in return.
The Turkish government has not commented on the P.K.K. statement or the call for Ocalan’s release. The government had previously declared that they had offered no concessions to the P.K.K.
The P.K.K. began as a secessionist group advocating for an independent state for Turkey’s Kurdish minority. However, it has more recently shifted to campaigning for greater rights for Kurds within Turkey. Many Turks consider Ocalan as one of the country’s greatest enemies, and Turkey, the United States, and other countries classify Ocalan as a terrorist and the P.K.K. as a terror group for its violent activities.
Ocalan was convicted in 1999 for leading an armed terrorist group. In recent years, Turkey’s military has weakened the P.K.K.’s capacity for warfare, which may have contributed to the group’s willingness to cease fighting.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/world/middleeast/kurdish-insurgent-group-declares-cease-fire-in-conflict-with-turkey.html
