Jailed PKK leader tells group to lay down arms, end conflict with Turkiye
Feb 28, 2025 #PKK #Erdogan #Turkiye
The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan has called on his Kurdistan Worke
Feb 28, 2025 #PKK #Erdogan #Turkiye
The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan has called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down its arms and dissolve itself, a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Turkiye and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region.
A delegation of Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party visited Ocalan on Thursday in his island prison and later delivered his statement in nearby Istanbul.
“I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call,” Ocalan said in a letter made public by DEM party members.
Ocalan wants his party to hold a congress and to formally agree to dissolve itself, they quoted him as saying.
“Convene your congress and make a decision. All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” Ocalan said, according to the statement.
The PKK is deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands reports, followed by Sinem Koseoglu, who joins us live from Istanbul for further insight.
Galip Dalay, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House and a non-resident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, joins from London to discuss the latest developments.
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