Sabri Ok (center), senior official of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), addresses journalists during a ceremony in the Qandil region of northern Iraq, where the group announced the complete withdrawal of its forces from Turkey, on Oct. 26, 2025. (Credit: Shwan Mohammed/AFP)
After more than a 40-year long insurgency against the Turkish state, the Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) decision to withdraw marks a major turning point in one of the Middle East’s longest-running conflicts. Labelled as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the group, which was founded in 1978, announced in May that it would lay down its arms, following a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to bring an end to the armed struggle. On Sunday, during a ceremony held in the Qandil Mountains, the PKK announced that all its fighters were withdrawing from Turkish territory in order to “lay the foundations for a free, democratic and fraternal life,” and it called on Ankara to adopt the necessary legal measures to facilitate the group’s political transition. The Turkish presidency’s head of...
After more than a 40-year long insurgency against the Turkish state, the Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) decision to withdraw marks a major turning point in one of the Middle East’s longest-running conflicts. Labelled as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, the group, which was founded in 1978, announced in May that it would lay down its arms, following a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to bring an end to the armed struggle. On Sunday, during a ceremony held in the Qandil Mountains, the PKK announced that all its fighters were withdrawing from Turkish territory in order to “lay the foundations for a free, democratic and fraternal life,” and it called on Ankara to adopt the necessary legal measures to facilitate the group’s political transition. The Turkish...
