Syrian Kurds wave flags featuring Abdullah Öcalan in northeastern Syria on Feb. 27, 2025. (Credit: Delil Souleiman/AFP)
In a historic announcement, Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), declared on Thursday the dissolution of the armed movement."All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself," the party's historic leader, ordered in a statement read Thursday afternoon by MPs from the pro-Kurdish leftist party Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) before journalists at a hotel in Istanbul.Earlier that day, a delegation spent three hours with Abdullah Öcalan at the high-security prison on Turkey's Imrali Island, where he has been held for 26 years, to finalize the details of the declaration. A circulating photo on social media shows the PKK leader surrounded by representatives of Turkey’s Kurdish community. Read more Why Erdogan might make peace with his adversary, the PKK party The...
In a historic announcement, Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), declared on Thursday the dissolution of the armed movement."All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself," the party's historic leader, ordered in a statement read Thursday afternoon by MPs from the pro-Kurdish leftist party Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) before journalists at a hotel in Istanbul.Earlier that day, a delegation spent three hours with Abdullah Öcalan at the high-security prison on Turkey's Imrali Island, where he has been held for 26 years, to finalize the details of the declaration. A circulating photo on social media shows the PKK leader surrounded by representatives of Turkey’s Kurdish community. Read more Why Erdogan might make peace with his adversary, the PKK party ...