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'An irreversible turning point': Turkey seeks to close chapter on Kurdish movement as PKK disarms
Syrian Kurds hold flags as they gather after Turkey's jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down its arms on Thursday, a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Ankara and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region, in Hasakah, Syria February 27, 2025. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
As the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) laid down arms in a ceremony on Friday, Turkey sought to close the chapter on the Kurdish movement and declared the moment as a 'milestone' and an 'irreversible turning point' in the Turkish-Kurdish conflict.
In line with the previous announcement to disarm, Kurdish group PKK destroyed their first batch of weapons at a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday.
Earlier this year, Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader, announced that the group would disarm, dissolve, and give up the armed movement for a political struggle. Since the foundation in 1984, the PKK had waged an insurgency against the Turkish rule for the rights of Kurds who form around 20 per cent of Turkey's population.
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Ahead of the PKK's first round of disarmament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said over the weekend that the Turkish-Kurdish reconciliation 'will gain a little more speed when the terrorist organisation starts to implement its decision to lay down arms' — Turkey has designated the PKK as a terrorist organisation.
'We hope this auspicious process will end successfully as soon as possible, without mishaps or sabotage attempts,' Erdogan further said on Wednesday.
The 'historic' disarmament ceremony
In a ceremony in the Casene cave in northern Iraq, around 30 Kurdish militants burnt their weapons, according to an AFP correspondent.
'Thirty PKK fighters, four of whom were commanders, burned their weapons,' the correspondent said, who was present at the cave near the city of Sulaimaniyah, in the Iraq's Kurdistan province.
Kurds are an ethnic people with large populations in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. They do not have any nation of their own.
The Casene cave has been symbolically associated with Kurds, according to AFP.
The news agency further said that the cave once housed a Kurdish printing press.
The PKK's disarmament has come after monthslong indirect negotiations between PKK leader Ocalan and Erdogan's government. The AFP reported that talks were mediated by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party and were approved by Erdogan.
The disarmament was 'a historic, democratic move', PKK members burning their weapons said, adding they hoped that it would 'bring about peace and freedom', according to AFP.
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Analysts have said that the disarmament at own accord was a face-saving move owing to the military weakening of the PKK over the years.
A senior Turkish official told the news agency, 'The laying down of arms by PKK militants in Sulaimaniyah —a milestone of the third stage of the ongoing disarmament and decommissioning process— marks a concrete and welcome step. We view this development as an irreversible turning point.'
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