The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced on Sunday that it has withdrawn all its forces from Turkey to northern Iraq, urging Ankara to take the necessary legal steps to safeguard the peace process.
In a statement published by the pro-PKK Firat News Agency, the group said it had begun the withdrawal to avoid potential clashes and to prevent any undesirable incidents.
The announcement was made during a ceremony held in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq.
Firat released images showing 25 fighters, including women, who had moved from Turkey to northern Iraq to attend the event, with a portrait of PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan displayed behind them.
Following discussions with Turkish authorities mediated by the Equality and Democracy Party in October 2024, the PKK announced its dissolution in May, responding to Öcalan’s call after more than four decades of armed conflict that claimed around 50,000 lives.
On Sunday, the group called on the Turkish government to proceed with the necessary legal measures to ensure the continuation of the peace process and to enable its members to engage in democratic political activity. It urged Ankara to adopt a special amnesty law for PKK members and enact legislation guaranteeing political freedoms and democratic integration.
In July, PKK fighters held a disarmament ceremony in Sulaymaniyah, within Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where 30 members, including four senior commanders, publicly burned their weapons in what the group described as a historic democratic move.
Over the past decade, most PKK fighters have taken refuge in mountainous areas of northern Iraq, where Turkey has maintained military bases for 25 years and routinely carried out ground and air operations against them.
Many Kurds in Turkey hope that the PKK’s renunciation of armed struggle could pave the way for a political settlement with Ankara and a new era of openness toward the Kurdish minority, which makes up around 20 percent of the country’s 85 million population.
Follow the latest news on Google News
