Ankara (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday urged full support for the disarmament of Kurdish militants, which started with the PKK handing over the first batch of weapons. He described this as a new chapter for the country.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the disarmament of the Kurdish PKK militant group signifies a victory for his country, following a symbolic ceremony on Friday where its members started laying down their weapons.
Thirty PKK militants ceremoniously burned their weapons at the entrance of a cave in northern Iraq, symbolizing a meaningful step toward ending their long-standing insurgency against Turkey.
Why did Erdoğan call this a historic turning point?
“As of yesterday, the scourge of terrorism has entered the process of ending. Today is a new day; a new page has opened in history. Today, the doors of a great, powerful Turkey have been flung wide open,”
Erdogan briefed members of his AK Party in Ankara.
He stated that recent measures have unified the nation, and now the parliament will be crucial in establishing a legal framework to finalize the disarmament process.
“I hope that our parliament will support this process with the broadest possible participation,”
Erdogan stated.
The PKK, which has been in conflict with the Turkish government and has been outlawed since 1984, decided in May to cease its separatist campaign, disarm, and disband following a public appeal from its long-imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
After several unsuccessful peace attempts, this new effort might open the door for Ankara to end an insurgency that has resulted in over 40,000 deaths, strained the economy, and caused significant social and political divisions within Turkey and beyond.
What does the PKK disarmament mean for Turkey?
In a historic announcement in May 2025, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) formally declared that it would disband and cease armed conflict, signaling the end of hostilities spanning forty years. This marks a defining moment in the long-running Kurdish-Turkish conflict, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and extensive regional instability dating back to the early 1980s.
The PKK announced that it would formally dissolve its armed wing and cease armed confrontation. The PKK announced that it would withdraw its fighters from the conflict zone and also dismantle its military infrastructure.
Ankara has initiated proactive action in taking concrete steps and establishing a parliamentary commission, which will oversee the PKK’s disarmament and transition to democratic politics. The commission is to find a legal means to regulate and complete the disarmament process after the PKK’s once-off symbolic handover of its weapons in northern Iraq, taken to be a milestone towards ending decades of conflict.
