The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has announced an immediate ceasefire, marking a significant step towards ending its four-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
The announcement came on Saturday, following a call by the group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, for disarmament. Ocalan’s appeal, which was triggered by an unexpected proposal in October from an ultra-nationalist ally of President Tayyip Erdogan, has been welcomed by the United States, the European Union, and other Western allies, as well as by Turkiye’s neighbors, Iraq and Iran.
“In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo’s call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today,” the PKK stated, according to the Firat news agency. The group affirmed that it “fully agree[s] with the content of the call and state[s] that, from our front, we will heed the necessities of the call and implement it.”
#عاجل | حزب العمال الكوردستاني PKK يعلن وقف إطلاق النار مع تركيا، ويؤكد التزامه الكامل بمضمون رسالة أوجلان الداعية لنزع السلاح وحل التنظيم. pic.twitter.com/qFzkS5UDD1
— الوضع الكوردي Rewşa Kurda (@rewsakurda) March 1, 2025
Who is Abdullah Öcalan?
Abdullah Öcalan, also known as “Apo,” is the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). In 1979, he went to Syria to prepare for the Kurdish independence war. He established the PKK’s headquarters in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. After the military coup in Turkey in 1980, many activists followed him to the PKK camps there.
In 1998, Öcalan was forced to leave Syria under pressure from Ankara. This was followed by a journey in which no country was willing to accept him. Finally, he was arrested by Turkish intelligence in 1999 in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
In Turkey, Öcalan was sentenced to death for high treason and founding a separatist terrorist organization. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. Since then, Öcalan has been held in solitary confinement in a prison on the island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul. His family and lawyers were rarely allowed to visit him.
After nearly ten years, Ocalan received a delegation from the pro-Kurdish opposition party in his prison at the end of last year 2024. Ocalan is now 76 years old, and despite not appearing in public since 1999, he still enjoys great confidence among his supporters.
The move marks a significant development in the long-standing conflict, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives since the PKK launched its armed campaign in 1984. The group, now headquartered in the mountains of northern Iraq, has expressed hope that Ankara would release Ocalan, who has been held in near-total isolation since 1999, so he could oversee the disarmament process.
However, the Turkish government has reiterated that it will not engage in negotiations with the PKK and has insisted that all Kurdish armed groups, including those operating in Iraq and Syria, must disarm. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Ankara considers an extension of the PKK, have clarified that Ocalan’s call does not apply to them.
The initiative’s success will hinge on the establishment of the necessary political and democratic conditions, as emphasized by the PKK. The pro-Kurdish DEM party has urged the Turkish government to take concrete steps towards democratization, stating that its response will be decisive.
If the ceasefire holds and the disarmament process is successfully implemented, the move could have far-reaching regional implications, potentially bringing an end to a conflict that has long been a source of instability in the region.
Source: Agencies (edited and translated by Al-Manar English Website)
