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Business Recorder
a day ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
The end of PKK's armed struggle?
Thirty fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) burned their weapons at the mouth of a cave in northern Iraq on July 11, 2025 rather than surrender them to Turkish authorities in a symbolic step towards ending a decades-long insurgency. Half the fighters were women, including their commander Bese Hozat, who read out a statement declaring the group's decision to disarm. The PKK ranks are a reflection of the its success in mobilising women for the armed struggle and giving them command responsibilities. Further handovers (burning?) of weapons is expected, but there is no confirmation when and where so far. After the burning ceremony, the fighters were to return to the mountains. The symbolic surrender process was expected to unfold throughout the summer. The PKK, on its incarcerated and kept in solitary confinement since 1999 leader Abdullah Ocalan's call, decided in May 2025 to dissolve itself and switch to open parliamentary politics. Thus seems to have come to a close the PKK's armed struggle since 1978 for, at a minimum, Kurdish linguistic, cultural and political rights (autonomy) within Turkiye, and at a maximum, secession and an independent Kurdish state. The conflict cost over 40,000 lives, burdened the economy and engendered deep social and political divisions. PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism, Marxism-Leninism and Kurdish nationalism. Turkiye over the years has consistently carried out military suppression campaigns, banned PKK in 1984, abducted Abdullah Ocalan from abroad in 1999 and kept him in solitary confinement since in an island prison in the Sea of Marmara. Of late, indirect negotiations between the Turkish authorities and Ocalan finally yielded the disarmament/dissolution decision by PKK. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the development, hoping it would lead to peace and security in the country. Despite his optimism, the road ahead appears uncertain, since there is little or no news about what the PKK has been offered in return for its decision to disarm/dissolve. PKK's demands include the release of Abdullah Ocalan. The portents are not good if the statement of Turkish officials engaged in the negotiations are taken note of. They display no intention to offer any concessions on even the minimum Kurdish demands such as linguistic, cultural and political rights. What then, it may be asked, will the Kurds get in exchange for disarming? It seems obvious that the (long standing) failure to offer even autonomy carries the seeds of renewed conflict. For as long as the Turkish post-Kemalist state has been in existence, the Kurds were denied use of their own language, culture, identity and autonomy in the name of the supposed advantages of a unified, centralised state. (The Kurds were disparagingly referred to as 'Mountain Turks'.) Erdogan's long stint in power yielded some cultural concessions, but these proved insufficient to quell Kurdish alienation. Military campaigns against the Kurds in southeastern Turkey led to PKK fighters seeking and obtaining safe havens in northern Iraq, a semi-autonomous Kurd region within that country. PKK controls hundreds of villages in Iraqi Kurdistan. Turkey's forays across the border to attack the PKK safe havens intensified in recent years with Ankara establishing outposts across the border and frequently attacking PKK positions. This produced tensions between Iraqi Kurds and the PKK, blamed for bringing the war to the doorstep of the former. It was after the shift in Iraq's posture in April 2024, when it banned the PKK following high level security meetings between Iraqi and Turkish officials that the PKK's safe havens were rendered no longer safe. The combination of military difficulties in this situation and the indirect negotiations between the Turkish authorities and Ocalan finally produced the current turnaround. With the PKK weakened and the Kurdish people exhausted, and no end in sight to the seemingly endless war, Ocalan's PKK finally swallowed the bitter pill. This was reflected in the crowds attending the surrendered arms burning, with both cheering and weeping in evidence. The Kurds, divided between four countries, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, have suffered an unfortunate history. Mullah Mustafa Barzani's armed struggle for autonomy or independence for Iraqi Kurdistan in the 1960s was eventually defeated and he sought sanctuary in the Soviet Union. (His son currently heads the Iraqi Kurdistan semi-autonomous region.) Iran's Kurds' uprising after the 1979 Iranian revolution was brutally crushed. The Syrian Kurds joined hands with the US to combat Islamic State and other extremist religious groups in the country's civil war. Now the Turkish Kurds, having given up the armed struggle without any evident reward in return, contemplate an uncertain future, given Turkey's past record and current disposition. The lesson to be learnt is that in any multi-ethnic, multi-national state not prepared to concede autonomy reflected in linguistic, cultural, economic and political rights to its minority nationalities, more often than not ends up with long and seemingly unending avoidable conflict to its own cost. Such conflicts, as they drag on, radically escalate from the demand for autonomy to breakaway independence, successful in this endeavour or not. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Shafaq News
a day ago
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Turkish Army: PKK cave in Kurdistan destroyed
Shafaq News – Kurdistan Turkiye's Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that its forces have destroyed a large cave network allegedly used by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region. Posting on X, the ministry clarified that the cave complex consisted of 33 rooms and extended over 1,800 meters in length, adding that significant quantities of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment were seized before the site was completely demolished. 🗓️ 5-7 Temmuz 2025Kahraman Türk Silahlı Kuvvetlerimiz, Irak'ın kuzeyindeki Pençe-Kilit Operasyonu bölgesinde gerçekleştirdiği arama tarama faaliyetinde bölücü terör örgütü PKK'nın kullandığı 1.800 metre uzunluğunda, 33 odalı bir mağara tespit etti. Kullanılamaz hâle getirilen… — T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) July 14, 2025 The announcement comes just days after dozens of PKK fighters reportedly set fire to their weapons in a symbolic ceremony held at Al-Sulaymaniyah province. The PKK, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, officially announced its dissolution and disarmament on May 12, following a historic call made in February by the group's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Kurdish PKK fighters destroy weapons at key ceremony
The PKK has taken several historic steps in recent months. (AFP pic) SULAIMANIYAH : Thirty PKK fighters destroyed their weapons at a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan today, two months after the Kurdish rebels ended their decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state. The ceremony marks a turning point in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to draw a line under one of the region's longest-running conflicts. Analysts say the PKK's military weakness makes disarmament a face-saving move, while allowing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to claim victory over a decades-long insurgency. At the brief ceremony, which took place in a cave in the mountains of northern Iraq, a first batch of 30 rebels were seen burning their weapons, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. 'Thirty PKK fighters, four of whom were commanders, burned their weapons,' said the correspondent who was present at the cave near the city of Sulaimaniyah, in the autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north. Throughout the morning, cars could be seen pulling up to the Casene cave, a symbolic location that once housed a Kurdish printing press, Firat news agency said. Founded by Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a string of bloody attacks on Turkish soil that sparked a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives. But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution, saying it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence in Turkey since 1999. 'As a gesture of goodwill, a number of PKK fighters, who took part in fighting Turkish forces in recent years, will destroy or burn their weapons in a ceremony,' a PKK commander told AFP on July 1, speaking on condition of anonymity. Tensions rose ahead of the ceremony as two drones were shot down overnight near Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga bases, one in Sulaimaniyah, and the other in Kirkuk, according to officials who did not say was behind the attacks. No casualties were reported. 'Power of politics' At the ceremony were officials representing Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdistan region, veteran Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Iraqi and Kurdistan interior ministries, an AFP correspondent said. Also present were several lawmakers from Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party and a handful of journalists, with Turkish media saying representatives from Ankara's intelligence agency were also there. The start of the PKK's disarmament is a key step in the months-long indirect negotiations between Ocalan and Ankara that began in October with Erdogan's blessing, and have been facilitated by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party. 'I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I urge you to put this principle into practice,' Ocalan said in a video message released on Wednesday, pledging that the disarmament process would be 'implemented swiftly'. Erdogan said peace efforts with the Kurds would gain momentum after the PKK began laying down its weapons. 'The process will gain a little more speed when the terrorist organisation starts to implement its decision to lay down arms,' he said at the weekend. 'We hope this auspicious process will end successfully as soon as possible, without mishaps or sabotage attempts,' he added on Wednesday. In recent months, the PKK has taken several historic steps, starting with a ceasefire and culminating in its formal dissolution announced on May 12. The shift followed an appeal on Feb 27 by Ocalan, who has spent the past 26 years in solitary confinement on Imrali prison island near Istanbul.
Gulf Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Peace process underscores existence of Kurds
Thirty Turkish Kurdish Workers Party PKK fighters destroyed their arms on Friday in a highly symbolic ceremony celebrating the end of their four-decade revolt against the Turkish state and a halt to a century of Ankara's efforts to Turkify the non-Turkic Kurds. It is significant that the event — attended by Turkish and Iraqi politicians, leading figures, and journalists — was held in the northern Iraqi semi-autonomous Kurdish province of Sulaymaniyah rather than in Turkey due to security concerns. Ahead of the ceremony, veteran Turkish Kurdish politician Leyla Zana called on Ankara to change its "terrorism" law: "I do not accept that Kurds be accused of terrorism." She added. "For 100 years oppression has been inflicted on Kurds and for 100 years Kurds have this 21st century, we say let neither of us. nor our partners, nor the oppressed people lose anything." She argued that the most significant thing which the peace process has achieved is 'from today onward, no one in the world arena can say the Kurds do not exist." She made history in 1991 when she became the first Kurdish woman to take a seat in Turkey's parliament. When she persisted with Kurdish activism, she was jailed from 1994 to 2004, and became an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience and won several human rights awards. In a broadcast two days before the ceremony, the prime mover of the peace process, the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called the shift from armed conflict to democratic politics as a 'historic gain.' He said the creation of a Turkish parliamentary committee to oversee the step-by-step process should be "implemented swiftly." In February, Ocalan proclaimed an end to the 40-year war which killed 40,000 people and in May the PKK announced the dissolution. Peacemaking with the PKK provides benefits and poses risks for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in power for more than 20 years. He seeks popular and parliamentary support for a fourth term in office in May 2028 and has cracked down on the opposition in recent months. Erdogan will take credit if PKK disarmament is peacefully completed but if clashes erupt and the process is disrupted, he will be blamed and could be held accountable at the ballot box. Ahead of the ceremony, he told legislators from his ruling Justice and Development party, 'Once the wall of terror is torn down, God willing, everything will change. More pain and tears will be prevented. The winners of this [process] will be the whole of Turkey – Turks, Kurds and Arabs. Then it will be our entire region." He added, "We hope that this auspicious process will conclude successfully as soon as possible, without any road accidents, and without it being sabotaged by dark and corrupt circles." The end of the PKK revolt is a major development for both Turks and Kurds. The revered founder of the modern Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, promoted Turkification through assimilation of Arab, Circassian and Kurdish minorities, the latter forming 15-20 per cent of the country's population. Turkey banned the Kurdish language, culture, and history, and massacred, oppressed and discriminated against the Kurds. They resisted. The PKK was established in 1978 to fight for independence while other Kurdish organisations and political parties lobbied for recognition and civil rights. PKK guerrillas fought a losing battle and took refuge in Iraq's Qandil mountains where they were routinely bombed by the Turkish air force. In 2005, the PKK began negotiations with Erdogan to secure Kurdish rights in a democratic system. This process has exerted pressure on Syria's Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to merge with the Syrian army and return the area under SDF control, 25 per cent of Syria, to rule by Damascus' Haya't Tahrir al-Sham government. Last week Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, met in Syria's capital with SDF commander, Mazlum Kobane, and US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack to discuss such a deal. Erdogan's efforts to resolve Turkey's current 'Kurdish problem" may survive for some time but is unlikely to end the Kurds' drive for an independent state in Kurdish majority areas in Turkey and its neighbours. While Kurdish communities are scattered across Turkey, the Kurds predominate in the east and southeast of the country where the Kurds regard the region as Northern Kurdistan. Northern Iraq is dubbed Southern Kurdistan, northwestern Iran becomes Eastern Kurdistan, and northern Syria is seen as Western Kurdistan. While Ankara, Tehran, Baghdad, and Damascus are the major obstacles to a potential Kurdish land grab, the Kurds are not united and dispute among themselves. The Kurds' host countries never addressed their recurring "Kurdish problem" which long pre-dates the existence of these states. The Kurds are neither of Turkic nor Arab stock. It is believed they descend from Indo-European tribes that migrated to this region around 4,000 years ago, and partially merged with local populations while retaining their Indo-European ethnicity language and distinctive customs. The majority of Kurds are Sunnis, although there are significant Kurdish Shia and non-Muslim Yezidi and Alevi sub-minorities. While Kurdish revolts have challenged Arab and Ottoman empires, Kurds have also played an important role in the region's history. The great warrior Salaheddin who defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hittin in Palestine and drove them from Jerusalem in 1187 was a Kurd born and raised in Tikrit, Iraq. He is seen as the most famous and significant Kurd in history. Arab, Turkish, and foreign writers have largely excluded the Kurds from histories of the region. This being the case, the Kurds are now staking their claim in the narrative of the 21st century.
DW
3 days ago
- Politics
- DW
Peace with PKK could boost Turkey's status in Middle East – DW – 07/13/2025
After its four-decade insurgency against Turkey's government, the Kurdistan Workers' Party has symbolically laid down its arms. The historic turning point presents opportunities and challenges for both sides. The Kurdsare the world's largest stateless ethnic group, with an estimated 25 to 30 million people living as minorities across Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Fragmentation and complex regional interests have always made Kurdish issues highly sensitive in the Middle East. But a possible turning point has emerged. After over four decades of waging an armed anti-capitalist struggle for Kurdish self-determination against Turkey's government, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has declared an end to the conflict and initiated a disarmament process. On Friday, 30 PKK fighters ceremonially laid down and destroyed their weapons in Dukan, in the Sulaymaniyah Governate of Iraqi Kurdistan. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Turkey's government has called the PKK's disarmament an opportunity for a peaceful future and promised to work toward stability and reconciliation. In February, PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999, called on adherents to end the separatist insurgency. That is just the first step toward achieving a sustainable peace in the long-deadlocked conflict. In a statement released on Thursday, the PKK emphasized that the success of the peace process will depend largely on concessions by Turkey's government. The statement called the symbolic act a clear sign of the PKK's desire for peace. However, the complete disarmament and dissolution of the PKK will require political, legal and social steps by Turkey's government, the statement said. The PKK is demanding Ocalan's release as part of the process. The group has also called for changes to Turkey's penal code that would enable the release of thousands of other Kurdish political prisoners, particularly elderly and the sick people. The PKK also seeks amnesty for fighters who hand in their weapons and opportunities for them to transition into legal politics. Turkey's government has yet to take any concrete steps of its own. Officials are waiting to determine whether the organization's disbandment is in earnest. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who leads the religious-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), and his ally, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), will also need to secure the support of their supporters and the wider population. With more than 40,000 people estimated to have been killed in the conflict since 1984 — the vast majority of them Kurdish civilians killed by forces aligned with Turkey's government — the latter could prove immensely challenging. Vahap Coskun, director of the Diyarbakir Institute for Political and Social Research, said the cautious rapprochement was normal. In difficult peace processes, mutual trust usually only develops over time as the parties come together, he said. But the first hurdle, the start to laying down arms, has now been overcome, he added. Negotiations with an organization that has been designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU, US and their allies will be extraordinarily difficult for the government, which has long painted the PKK as the chief enemy of the state. Erdogan said Ankara would take no further steps before the PKK dismantled all of its structures. According to the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party, which advocates for Kurds and other minorities in Turkey, a commission will be established in the national legislature in July to create proposals for "peace and a democratic social process" beginning in October. The commission will address the future of Ocalan and the PKK's estimated 2,500 to 5,000 fighters. The true size of the organization's arsenal remains unknown. Coskun said he expected the PKK to emerge from the mountains in groups of 40 to 50 fighters over the next few months to surrender their weapons. Media close to the government report that handover locations will be defined and monitored jointly by Iraq's central government and the administration of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. The weapons are to be registered and destroyed to prevent them from ending up with other Kurdish groups. The regional Kurdistan administration in Iraq supports the rapprochement between Turkey's government and the PKK. Although the PKK has agreed to this plan, it may not wish to relinquish control so quickly. Some fighters could join organizations such as the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) in Iran or the Kurdish militias of the People's Defense Units (YPG) in Syria. Turkey's government regards the YPG as the Syrian arm of the PKK and has in recent years launched cross-border attacks on the group. Coskun is optimistic about the peace process, saying Turkey's government and the PKK have learned from previous, unsuccessful attempts. Those negotiations were often protracted, but this time the government wants to move forward quickly. Work on a political solution is set to begin in October, when Turkey's parliament convenes after the summer break. "This will require changes to the Turkish penal code, in particular the anti-terror laws and the law on enforcement," Coskun said. Demands by the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party for more rights for Kurds and the recognition of the Kurdish identity would also require a change to the Turkish constitution, Coskun added. Coskun said the peace process could help improve the Turkish government's relations with Kurds in Iraq and Syria, as well. Though Turkey generally has a good relationship with Kurds in Iraq, the PKK's activities in the Kurdistan has often strained ties between the governments. Turkey has also always seen the Kurdish self-administration in northern Syria as a major threat because of its close ties with the PKK. If Turkey's government can resolve its domestic and cross-border conflict with Kurds, Coskun said, its relations with Middle Eastern countries could improve. On Saturday, Erdogan praised the beginning of the peace process, calling it the end of a "painful chapter" in Turkish history that had been characterized by the "scourge of terrorism." "Today the doors of a great Turkey, a strong Turkey, a Turkish century have been opened wide,' Erodgan said.
