The statement issued in northern Iraq by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, came months after a group of its fighters began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony related to the peace process.
The PKK has been involved in a decades-long insurgency in Turkey, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths since the 1980s.
“To prevent any risk of clashes or provocations, we are currently withdrawing all our forces within Turkey to the Medya Defense Area with Abdullah Ocalan’s approval,” stated Sabri Ok, referring to the group’s imprisoned leader. The Medya Defense Area is a term frequently used by the PKK to describe regions in northern Iraq.
The statement further called for legal and political concessions as a part of the peace initiative.
“It is quite clear that we are committed to the resolutions of the 12th Congress and decisive in implementing them,” the statement continued. “However, for these resolutions to be implemented, certain legal and political approaches — in line with the resolutions of the PKK’s 12th Congress … need to be adopted.”
Ocalan, imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm, a call the PKK replied to in May by announcing its intent to do so.
The PKK initially launched its armed insurgency against Turkey aiming to establish a Kurdish state in the country’s southeast; however, its objectives evolved to focus on seeking autonomy and rights for Kurds within Turkey.
The group is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.
