Jailed PKK leader calls for disarmament, dissolution

PanARMENIAN.Net - Jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has made an unprecedented appeal for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to lay down arms and dissolve, marking a historic turning point. His statement was read aloud in Istanbul, according to Turkish Minute.

“All armed groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must disband,” Öcalan stated in a declaration delivered by a delegation of lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), who had visited him in prison earlier that day.

Veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk presented the Kurdish version of the statement, while DEM Party lawmaker Pervin Buldan read the Turkish translation at a press conference in an İstanbul hotel.

Öcalan emphasized “the significance of his appeal, acknowledging the contributions of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli in fostering an environment conducive to peace.”

“The call made by Mr. Devlet Bahçeli, along with the will expressed by Mr. President and the positive responses from political parties towards the anticipated call, have created an environment in which I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historic responsibility of this call,” Öcalan declared.

He urged the PKK to convene a congress and officially decide on disbandment. “As in the case of any modern community and party whose existence has not been abolished by force, you must voluntarily convene your congress and make a decision: All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself,” he stated.

Öcalan also reflected on the motivations behind the PKK’s armed struggle, particularly the state’s historical denial of Kurdish identity. However, he insisted that armed conflict was no longer justified.

Established by Öcalan in 1978, the PKK has waged a violent insurgency in Turkey’s southeastern region since 1984. Turkey, along with its Western allies, considers the group a terrorist organization.

“There is no alternative to democracy in the pursuit and realization of a political system. Democratic consensus is the fundamental way,” Öcalan asserted.

His message was broadcast to a crowd of approximately 3,000 people in Diyarbakır, a Kurdish-majority city in southeastern Turkey. While some responded with applause, others were visibly emotional.

Despite the historic nature of his appeal, Öcalan did not outline specific actions the Turkish government would take to address Kurdish demands for expanded political and cultural rights. He also refrained from setting any conditions for the PKK’s disarmament.

Öcalan, 75, has been serving a life sentence without parole on İmralı Island since his capture in Nairobi in February 1999.

Efforts to bring an end to the conflict, which began in 1984 and has claimed over 40,000 lives, have taken various forms over the years. The most recent peace negotiations collapsed in 2015, leading to renewed violence.