The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has announced that it is withdrawing all its forces from Turkey to northern Iraq as part of a peace process, marking the conclusion of a months-long disarmament following a four-decade armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
“We are implementing the withdrawal of all our forces within Turkey,” the Kurdish PKK said in a statement read aloud on Sunday in the Qandil area of northern Iraq, according to a journalist from the AFP news agency who was present at the ceremony.
The group released a photo showing 25 fighters, including eight women, who had already traveled from Turkey to northern Iraq.
The PKK, which formally renounced its 40-year armed struggle in May, is currently transitioning from armed rebellion to democratic politics. This shift aims to bring an end to one of the region’s longest conflicts, which has resulted in approximately 50,000 deaths.
However, the group urged Turkey to take the necessary legal and political steps to advance the peace process. The group emphasized the importance of establishing laws that allow freedom and democratic integration, enabling Kurdish participation in politics.
“The legal and political steps required by the process, as well as the laws of freedom and democratic integration necessary to participate in democratic politics, must be put in place without delay,” the PKK stated.
The organization has expressed its intent to pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority, aligning with a historic call by the group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan.
In July, the PKK held a symbolic ceremony in the mountains of northern Iraq to destroy its first batch of weapons. This act was welcomed by Turkey as “an irreversible turning point.”
“Today is a new day; a new page has opened in history. Today, the doors of a great, powerful Turkey have been flung wide open,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the time.
The resolution of Turkey’s conflict with the PKK could have broader implications for the region, including neighboring Syria. In Syria, the United States is allied with Syrian Kurdish forces, which Ankara regards as an offshoot of the PKK.
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