PKK chief promises 'rapid' implementation of disarmament

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, is preparing to take a historic step toward transforming from an armed insurgency into a political movement within Turkey, following a call by its imprisoned founder, Abdullah Öcalan.

After more than four decades of conflict that have claimed at least 45,000 lives, the PKK announced it would begin disarming, seizing on a process initiated by Turkish authorities in October. A symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected by the end of the week in northern Iraq.

In a lengthy message broadcast Wednesday by pro-Kurdish media outlets Mezopotamya and Firat News, Öcalan, who has been jailed since 1999, called for “a rapid transition from armed conflict to democracy and law.” Flanked by six other PKK prisoners in a video filmed at his detention facility on Imrali Island near Istanbul, the 76-year-old leader vowed that “the modalities of disarmament will be defined and implemented quickly.”

Referring to a statement he issued in late February calling for peace and a democratic society, Öcalan welcomed the PKK’s formal dissolution on May 12. “This is a voluntary transition,” he said. “I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I urge you to put this principle into practice.”

The disarmament follows a gesture from Turkey’s ruling coalition, notably from nationalist leader Devlet Bahçeli, and mediation efforts by the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, currently the third-largest bloc in Turkey’s Parliament. DEM officials visited Öcalan multiple times and facilitated communications between him and the government.

“The process will accelerate further when the terrorist organization begins to implement its promise to lay down arms,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday. On Monday, he met with the DEM delegation, and the next day, Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin traveled to Baghdad, signaling progress toward a final settlement.

“I want to clarify that all these developments stem from the meetings I held in Imrali,” Öcalan said in the video message, while his future remains unclear. He called for the creation of a special commission in Parliament to guide the political transition, describing it as “essential” to the peace process.

Öcalan also acknowledged the deadlock of the PKK’s former strategy. “The PKK’s struggle for an independent Kurdish state and its national liberation war strategy have been exhausted. Its existence has been recognized, so its primary objective has been achieved,” he said. “Everything beyond that became repetitive and led to a dead end.”

Since the last major flare-up of violence in 2015, when fighting engulfed the majority-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, most PKK fighters have remained in the Kandil mountains of northern Iraq, facing Turkish military operations and heavy airstrikes.

Öcalan, once the leader of a Marxist insurgency, framed the move as a decisive break from armed struggle. “This step is historic,” he said. “It marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another — through politics, not war.”