Kurdish guerrillas, which have been in a protracted rebellion with Turkey, announced a ceasefire on Saturday, and a few days later, its jailed leader called to disarm and disband the group’s hopes of ending the conflict, creating a conflict that has left tens of thousands more than forty years.
The PKK (PKK) said the ceasefire will begin immediately. But it also calls on Abdullah Ocalan, the founder and leader of the Workers’ Party of Kurdish, to spend 25 years in a Turkish prison in order to release so that he can monitor the dissolution of the group.
If the PKK does disband, it will address major domestic security threats and mark a political victory for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. If negotiated with Mr. Ocalan, it could be a new era in the Kurds’ armed struggle against Iraq, Syria and parts of Turkey in the mountains.
But there are still many unresolved problems.
“This is just the first sentence,” said Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
It is unclear whether Türkiye will stop armed operations against the PKK, which will monitor any armistice or combat opportunities with lying down arms. There is also a question whether the government provides any reward to the Kurdish fighters.
But the ceasefire will lead the Kurds to start internal consultations and hold a path forward forging democracy in local parliament, and the Kurds in Türkiye and Syria say they want to do it.
The PKK announcement comes two days after Mr Okaran said the group had exceeded its lifespan and should be dissolved, a rare message from a leader with a great influence on Turkish Kurdish fighters and also in the region, including Syria and Iraq.
“Our forces will not take armed action unless attacked,” said a PKR statement from Firat News, a news website linked to the KD Party Postal Library (PKK).
Türkiye’s military has reduced the combat capability of the PKK in recent years, and analysts say it may help discuss the outcome of its battle.
The PKK fighters respected their leader, Mr Okaran, and were expected to hear his call, but the organization’s conditional statement shows that it will continue to use its leverage during the negotiations.
“For these types of organizations, a ceasefire is a means to buy time, overcome military setbacks and smoothly in terms of cracks between members,” said Ankara, an analyst at the Center for Middle East Research.
The Turkish government did not immediately comment on the PKK statement or amid the group’s call for Mr. Ocalan to be released.
But on Friday, Mr Erdogan welcomed Mr Okaran’s appeal, which was followed by a series of talks, including Turkish officials. Mr. Okaran himself; and Türkiye’s main Kurdish party, people equal to members of the Democratic Party or Dem
“We have a historic opportunity to move towards demolishing the wall of terror,” he said, adding that Turkish officials will follow up on their efforts to end the conflict without having to elaborate on what it will be.
Mr Erdogan said in January that the government provided the Workers’ Party of Kurdish (PKK) without concessions.
The PKK began with a separatist group trying to create an independent state for the Kurdish minority in Turkey, but recently it said it was seeking greater rights from the Kurds within Turkey.
Türkiye, the United States and other countries classify Mr. Okaran as a terrorist, while the Workers’ Kurdish Party is a terrorist organization because its attacks killed Turkish security forces and civilians. Many Turks believe that Mr. Ocalan was convicted in 1999 to lead an armed terrorist organization, one of the country’s biggest enemies.
Türkiye and the PKK have been trying to resolve the conflict for years, most recently through peace talks that began in 2011. The negotiations in 2015 broke down and ushered in a fatal new stage.
But in October last year, a powerful political ally of Mr. Erdogan sent a startling public appeal to Mr. Okaran, asking him to tell fighters to lie down their weapons and end the conflict. Doing so could open up a path for the end of his life sentence, politicians said.
