The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel organization, which has been embroiled in bloody fighting with the Turkish state for over four decades, made a decision to dissolve and put an end to its armed struggle, a news agency close to the group said on Monday.
The PKK’s move could enhance the political and economic stability of NATO member Turkey and prod efforts to de-escalate tensions in neighboring Iraq as well as in Syria, where Kurdish forces have aligned with U.S. forces.
Since the PKK began its rebellion in 1984, the war has cost the lives of over 40,000 individuals, placed an enormous economic strain and fueled social tensions. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
“The PKK 12th Congress resolved to dismantle the PKK’s organizational framework. and bring an end to the armed struggle,” the Firat news agency quoted it as stating in the final declaration of a congress that took place last week in northern Iraq, where the group is headquartered.
The PKK convened the congress as a response to a February call to dissolve issued by its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been behind bars on an island off Istanbul since 1999. It announced on Monday that he would oversee the process.
Still, it remained unknown whether Ankara concurred on the sustained participation of Ocalan, something opinion polls indicated would not be well-received among Turks. Few specifics also emerged as to how disarming and dividing the PKK in real terms was going to be achieved.
It was also unclear how the process would impact the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, if at all. YPG commands a U.S.-backed force fighting Islamic State there and is viewed by Turkey as a PKK affiliate. YPG has already stated Ocalan’s call did not include it.
“The historic mission of the PKK has been fulfilled,” the PKK statement read. “The struggle of the PKK has shattered the policy of denial and annihilation of our people and taken the Kurdish question to the point of resolving it through democratic politics.”
The move by the PKK will provide President Tayyip Erdogan with the chance to spur development in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, where the insurgency has hurt the regional economy for decades.
A deputy leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party, the country’s third-largest party in parliament and a player in allowing Ocalan’s call for peace, told Reuters that the PKK move was historic not only for Kurdish people but for the Middle East in general.
