Protesters waving flags featuring the likeness of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. (Credit: Delil Souleiman/AFP.)
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced on Monday its dissolution and the end of more than four decades of armed struggle against the Turkish state, reported the pro-Kurdish agency ANF. "The 12th Congress of the PKK decided to dissolve the organizational structure of the PKK and end the method of armed struggle," announced the Kurdish armed group in a statement, which had indicated earlier that it held a congress last week.
On February 27, the historical leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, called on his movement to lay down arms and end a guerrilla war that has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 1984. This call by Ocalan, who has been imprisoned for 26 years on the island-prison of Imrali, off the coast of Istanbul, followed mediation initiated in the fall by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main ally, the nationalist Devlet Bahceli, through the pro-Kurdish DEM party. The PKK responded favorably on March 1 to the call of its historical leader, announcing an immediate ceasefire with the Turkish forces.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan then considered Abdullah Ocalan's call a "historic opportunity" for Turks and Kurds, who are estimated to represent 20% of the 85 million inhabitants of Turkey.