In Rare Video, Jailed Kurdish Leader Declares an End to Armed Struggle
The comments echoed a written call by the leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in February for his group's fighters to disarm and disband. But given his great stature among his followers, hearing and seeing the appeal could move the process forward.
'This is a voluntary transition from the phase of armed struggle to the phase of democratic politics and law,' he said in the video, the first time footage of him has been made public since he was convicted of treason and separatism in 1999 and imprisoned. 'It should not be considered a loss but a historic gain.'
The P.K.K. has been waging an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s that it says seeks greater rights for Turkey's Kurds. More than 40,000 people have been killed, many of them civilians, in attacks on Turkish security forces and in Turkish military operations aimed at quashing the militants.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union have classified the P.K.K. as a terrorist organization.
The peace process has proceeded slowly since Mr. Ocalan's call for disarmament in February. In May, the P.K.K. convened a congress that announced the group's decision to disband. A ceremony is planned for Friday in northern Iraq, where many of its top cadres are based, during which a group of P.K.K. fighters are expected to destroy their weapons.
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