Supporters of The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) hold pictures of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, and shout slogans next to a bonfire during a rally for Newruz celebrations in Diyarbakir, Turkey in March. The PKK began burning its weapons Friday in Iraq after Ocalan called for disarmament. EPA/METIN YOKSU
The Kurdish militant group PKK took its first step toward peace with Turkey as it burned weapons after 40 years of conflict.
The group of 30 PKK members went to a cave near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and put their weapons into a fire. It was the first ceremony of its kind for the organization, and more are expected to happen all summer. The Turkish government has said the ceremony is crossing a “critical threshold” toward a “terror-free Turkey.”
PKK, or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others. It formed as a response to poor treatment of Kurds in Turkey and demanded an independent Kurdistan, Kurdish language education and more.
More than 40,000 people have died in the four decades-long conflict.
“We voluntarily destroy our weapons, before your presence, as a step of goodwill and determination,” the PKK said in a statement. The group included 15 men and 15 women.
Witnesses included officials from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, Iraqi officials, security forces and officials from Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government, members of the Turkish People’s Democratic Party (Dem), and some from non-governmental organizations.
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, long imprisoned by Turkey, said it was “a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law.”
Ocalan has been imprisoned on the island of Imrali near Istanbul since 1999. He’s been kept in solitary confinement.
Devlet Bahceli, a nationalist leader in Turkey and ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, started working to create a “terror-free Turkey” in October 2024. He pushed Ocalan to call for the dissolution of the PKK. The Turkish government began negotiations with Ocalan with the help of the Dem party, which is pro-Kurd. In February, Ocalan appealed to the group to disband in a letter that two Dem MPs read out after visiting the prison.
“All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” Ocalan’s letter said.
