Istabul (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group declared an immediate ceasefire against the Turkish state. The group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s disarmament call comes, in a significant step toward concluding a 40-year insurgency
Ocalan instructed the PKK to lay down its weapons and dissolve. The move is supported by President Tayyip Erdogan’s government and the opposition pro-Kurdish DEM party.
PKK said it desired Ankara would give Ocalan, kept in near total isolation since 1999, more freedoms so he can head a disarmament process, saying that the essential political and democratic conditions must be specified for it to succeed.
“We, as the PKK, fully agree with the content of the call and state that, from our front, we will heed the necessities of the call and implement it,”
the group stated in a statement, according to the Firat news agency.
“Beyond this, issues like laying down arms being put into practice can only be realised under the practical leadership of Leader Apo,”
the group stated, using its nickname for Ocalan, stating it would suspend all hostilities immediately unless struck.
The PKK further said Ocalan must be given “physical freedom, achieve living and working conditions, form relationships with anyone he wants, including friends, without obstacles”.
Whether Turkey administration will address these matters is unclear.
How has Turkey’s government responded to the PKK truce?
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told broadcaster CNN Turk that no amnesty, house detention, or other possibilities were being examined, and that there were no negotiations.
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, without mentioning the PKK‘s statement, stated the battle with terrorism had seriously harmed Turkey’s potential by restricting social and economic development, tourism, investments and energy.
“The dissolution of the terrorist organisation without any negotiation means a new environment and era in terms of development and democracy, as well as in the field of security,”
Yilmaz stated.
Analysts have expressed Erdogan, who has made reprised actions in the past to end the conflict, is concentrated on the domestic political rewards that peace could bring as he darts to extend his two-decade control beyond 2028 when his term expires.
Finishing the insurgency would withdraw a regular flashpoint in Kurdish-run, oil-rich northern Iraq, while boosting efforts by Syria’s new government to maintain greater sway over regions in northern Syria regulated by Kurdish forces.
