Jailed PKK leader tells group to lay down arms, end conflict with 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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Post from Al Jazeera on February 27, 2025

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