Kurdish insurgent group says it is ending conflict with Turkish state

Boston Globe

12-05-2025

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In a statement Monday, the group echoed Ocalan's call, saying it had 'carried the Kurdish issue to a level where it can be solved by democratic politics, and the PKK has completed its mission in that sense.'
A recent congress by the group's leaders in northern Iraq had decided to end 'activities under the name of PKK.''
The group said Ocalan should lead the process of disarming, and it called on Turkey's parliament to take part. The move could end a conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
It was unclear what would happen next. Ocalan has been held in near isolation in a prison on an island in the Sea of Marmara since his capture by Turkish intelligence in 1999. The PKK and pro-Kurdish politicians have called for his release, or at least for a loosening of the restrictions on him to allow him to oversee the disarmament process.
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Many Kurds in Turkey have also expressed hopes that the end of the conflict would lead the government to formally expand Kurdish cultural and educational rights, but no new legislation on such issues appears imminent.
The long conflict, in which PKK militants bombed civilian areas and the Turkish military responded with great force, has led to pitched battles in Kurdish-majority cities.
Monday's announcement is a boon for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He can claim to have done what his predecessors failed to do, and the PKK's dissolution could expand his support among Kurds, which many analysts suspect that he covets in order to change the constitution and seek a third presidential term.
Mesut Yegen, an academic who has written extensively on Kurdish issues, said there is nonetheless a long and difficult process ahead for Erdogan. The Turkish leader needs to push through legal changes on the status of militants, among other things, he said.
In a social media post, Omer Celik, a spokesperson for Erdogan's governing Justice and Development Party, said the PKK's announcement was an important step in Erdogan's work to ensure a 'terror-free Turkey.'
The PKK's declaration could also influence other Kurdish militias, particularly in Syria, and shift regional dynamics beyond Turkey's borders.
The Kurds — an ethnic group of roughly 40 million people — are spread across Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. They were promised, but never granted, their own nation by world powers after World War I and have since launched various rebellions against governments that have sought to suppress their cultural identity.
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In nearly every country where they live, Kurds have faced state-sponsored suppression of their language and culture.
Yegen said that the laying down of arms by the PKK could have major implications across the region, and that 'Turkey's relations with the Kurds in Syria and Iraq will be based on cooperation, rather than conflict.'
He added, 'It is clear that the door for a massive change has been opened.'
It was not immediately clear how the decision would affect the PKK bases hidden in the mountainous areas of Iraq's northern Kurdish region. Turkey has repeatedly bombarded PKK strongholds in northern Iraq, as well as the group's offshoot controlling the northeastern regions of Syria, branding them a terrorist threat near its borders.
Turkish officials have said publicly that the government offered no concessions to the PKK to persuade it to disarm. But officials from Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party have expressed hope that the government would expand cultural and educational rights for Kurds.
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