PKK declares ceasefire in 40-year conflict with Turkiye: Kurdish media
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has declared it will implement a ceasefire with Turkiye, heeding a call from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to disarm, Kurdish media reports.
The announcement by the outlawed group, reported by the pro-PKK Firat news agency (ANF) on Saturday, is seen as a major step towards ending a 40-year conflict with the Turkish state.
'In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo's call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today,' the PKK executive committee said in a statement quoted by ANF, referring to Ocalan.
'We agree with the content of the call as it is and we say that we will follow and implement it,' the committee said.
The group said it hoped Ankara would release Ocalan, held in near total isolation since 1999, so he can lead a process of disarmament, adding that the necessary political and democratic conditions need to be established for the process to succeed.
The statement did not specifically set a timeline for when the group will disband.
On Thursday, Ocalan made a historic call from prison for the party to lay down its arms, dissolve itself and end its decades-long conflict with the Turkish state.
Ocalan, 75, has been imprisoned on the island of Imrali, off Istanbul, since 1999, after being convicted of treason. Despite his incarceration, he continues to wield significant influence over the PKK, which he founded in 1978.
A day after, Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Ocalan's call, describing it as a 'historic opportunity' for peace.
The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies, has led a rebellion against the Turkish state since 1984, with the aim of carving out a homeland for Kurds, who account for about 20 percent of Turkiye's 85 million people.
Since Ocalan was jailed in 1999, there have been various attempts to end the bloodshed, which has killed more than 40,000 people.
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