The PKK, a Kurdish group that has been outlawed, has announced a ceasefire with Turkey following a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, urging the movement to disarm and disband.
On Saturday, the PKK issued a statement expressing its hope that Turkey would release Ocalan, who has been held in solitary confinement since 1999, to facilitate a disarmament process.
This statement comes in the wake of his appeal earlier this week to conclude a four-decade-long armed conflict in southeastern Turkey, a struggle that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands.
His announcement follows months after Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s ultra-nationalist MHP party and a key ally of the Turkish government, initiated efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict.
Ocalan, known as Apo among Kurdish nationalists, held a meeting this week with members of parliament from a pro-Kurdish party on Imrali, an island located in the Sea of Marmara, southwest of Istanbul, where he is currently incarcerated.
The PKK executive committee announced a ceasefire effective immediately, stating, “In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo’s call for peace and democratic society,” in a statement released on Saturday, as reported by the pro-PKK ANF news agency.
The statement emphasised, “None of our forces will take armed action unless attacked.”
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has called for improved prison conditions for Abdullah Ocalan, asserting that he should be granted the ability to live and work in physical freedom. The organisation emphasised that Ocalan should also have the right to establish unrestricted relationships with anyone he chooses, including his friends.
Since 1984, the group has been engaged in an insurgency, seeking to establish a homeland for Kurds, who represent approximately 20% of Turkey’s population of 85 million. The organisation faces a ban as a terrorist group in Turkey, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In a significant move towards peace, Ocalan urged disarmament in a letter by Dem party representatives Ahmet Turk and Pervin Buldan, delivered in both Kurdish and Turkish languages.
He stated that “all groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” further explaining that his movement emerged mainly due to the closure of “the channels of democratic politics.”
Ocalan stated that Bahceli, with support from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and various political parties, had fostered an environment conducive for the PKK to cease its armed activities.
The development received a largely positive response from Kurdish leaders. According to local reports, a large crowd of thousands assembled to view the statement on large screens in the cities of Diyarbakir and Van in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern region.
Nonetheless, considerable uncertainty persists within the Kurdish and Turkish communities regarding the potential next steps, with scepticism among many about the likelihood of change.
In a recent statement, senior PKK commander Duran Kalkan accused Turkey’s ruling party, the AKP, of seeking not a resolution but rather an agenda to “take over, destroy and annihilate”.
In a significant escalation, Turkish-backed forces in north-eastern Syria have ramped up their operations against Kurdish factions. Last month, they urged the newly established leadership in Syria to take decisive action against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
In recent years, a significant number of pro-Kurdish politicians have faced a series of arrests and subsequent jail sentences.
Since the onset of the PKK’s insurgency, approximately 40,000 lives have been lost.
Between 2015 and 2017, southeastern Turkey experienced a notable increase in violence following the collapse of a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire.
In a recent development, the PKK has asserted responsibility for an attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) headquarters located near Ankara, resulting in the deaths of five individuals.
