A statement by the imprisoned leader of the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, has announced the disbandment of the organization and called on its supporters to lay down their arms. In a statement released on Thursday, Öcalan, who is 75 years old and serving a life sentence for high treason, urged his followers to dissolve the PKK and put down their weapons. The statement came after a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Movement (DEM) visited Öcalan on the Imrali Island prison in Istanbul.
The PKK, which was founded in 1978, had initially taken a Marxist-Leninist ideology but later adopted a more Kurdish nationalist stance. It launched an armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984, citing the suppression of the Kurdish minority as the main reason. The conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
Öcalan’s statement could mark the start of a new peace process, with observers having expected a declaration to end the conflict for weeks. Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), had already hinted at the possibility of Öcalan’s release if the PKK disbands and lays down its arms.
The statement is likely linked to the developments in Syria, where the US and Turkey are currently negotiating the future of the Kurdish forces that control parts of the north-east of the country. The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish militia, is controlled by the PKK and was the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State.
Öcalan’s call to disarm could influence the US-Turkey talks, with Turkey demanding the disarming of the Kurdish forces in Syria and having intervened militarily against them several times in recent years.
Öcalan has been in prison since 1999 and remains a influential figure among Kurdish fighters and politicians. He founded the PKK in 1978, which at its peak in the 1990s had a guerrilla force of over 10,000 fighters. His capture by Turkish special forces in Kenya in 1999, facilitated by the US and Israel, was a significant blow to the party and marked a turning point in the conflict with Turkey. The original death sentence against Öcalan was commuted to life imprisonment in 2002.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, the EU and other countries. In Germany, the PKK has been banned since 1993, following a series of sometimes violent protests by its supporters in the country. The ban also applies to subsidiary organizations such as the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK). Thousands of Kurds had participated in PKK demonstrations in Germany, often leading to clashes with the police.