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In a historic move, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) declared a ceasefire with Turkey on Saturday, following a significant call by its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, urging the group to disband.
This marks the first official response from the PKK after Ocalan’s appeal earlier this week for the dissolution of the party, which has been in armed conflict with the Turkish state for over 40 years.
“In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo’s call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today,” the PKK’s executive committee stated, as quoted by the pro-PKK ANF news agency. They confirmed their agreement with Ocalan’s call, expressing their intention to follow and enforce it.
The PKK, which is classified as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has been fighting since 1984 with the goal of creating an independent Kurdish homeland. Kurds make up about 20 percent of Turkey’s population of 85 million.
Over the years, various efforts have been made to end the violent conflict, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives. However, peace talks have repeatedly broken down. The last round of negotiations collapsed in 2015, and no communication occurred until October of the previous year, when a nationalist ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a surprising peace offer, conditioned on Ocalan renouncing violence.
According to reports, Erdogan supported the peace initiative, but his government intensified its crackdown on opposition, arresting hundreds of politicians, activists, and journalists.
After several meetings with Ocalan in his prison on the island, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Party (DEM) on Thursday shared his request for the PKK to cease its armed struggle and convene a congress to officially announce its dissolution.
