6 keys to understand the dissolution of the PKK in Türkiye and the effects that their disappearance will have on the region

Fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are aligned to deposit their weapons in a well during a ceremony in Sulaimaniyah, in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. — Photo foot, Thirty PKK fighters destroyed their weapons in a ceremony at the Iraqi Kurdistan.

- Author, Ayse Sayin
- Author's title, BBC News in Turkish, from Ankara
- Author, Paul Kirby
- Author's title, Digital Editor of Europe, BBC News
4 hours

After four decades of conflict with the Turkish state, the proscribed PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) celebrated a ceremony to commemorate its first symbolic act of weapons deposition.

Some 30 combatants, men and women, deposited their weapons in a cauldron, starting a disarmament process that is expected to last the entire summer.

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declared that the ceremony marked an “important step towards our goal of a terrorism -free Türkiye.”

Some 40,000 people have died since the beginning of the conflict and the PKK is classified as a terrorist group in Türkiye, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

His disarmament will be felt not only in Türkiye, but also in Iraq, Syria and Iran.

1. How did disarmament begin?

A PKK militia leaves its weapons in a boiler. — Photo foot, Fifteen women and 15 men participated in the ceremony in a cave of the Iraqi Kurdistan.

A caravan of journalists and politicians, including members of the Turkish Opposition Party Prokurdo Dem, were transferred to witness the disarmament start ceremony in a recognized tourist point: the Jasana Cave, 50 km northwest of the city of Suleymaniyah, in the Iraqi Kurdistan.

The PKK fighters, including four high controls, aligned to deposit their weapons in the Pebetero, where they set fire.

“We voluntarily destroy our weapons, before their presence, as a sign of goodwill and determination,” the group said in a statement, describing it as a historical and democratic step.

Earlier this week, Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK and who has been in prison for a long time, said it was “a voluntary transition from the armed conflict phase to the phase of democratic laws and policies.”

Öcalan has remained in isolation on the small prison island of Imrali, southwest of Istanbul, since its capture in 1999.

The process will continue during the next months at established points with the participation of the governments of Türkiye, Iraq and the regional government of Kurdistan, as the BBC Turkish service has been able to know.

2. Who are the PKK and why has the conflict lasted so long?

A woman flies a flag with Abdullah Öcalan's face, in front of an immense photo of the Kurdish politician. — Photo foot, Many Kurds support and follow the PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, who remains imprisoned.

This is not the first attempt of peace between Türkiye and the PKK, but it represents the greatest hope to date for the end of the armed struggle that began in 1984.

The Kurdistan Workers Party was originally a Marxist group that rose in arms demanding an independent state within Türkiye.

In the 1990s, they demanded greater autonomy for the Kurds, which represent approximately 20% of the population.

Öcalan announced a high fire in 2013 and urged the forces of the PKK to retire from Türkiye.

The 2015 Dolmabahçe agreement was intended to grant democratic and linguistic rights to the Kurds, but the fragile truce collapsed in the midst of devastating violence, especially in the southeast cities that the Kurds dominated as Diyarbakir.

The Turkish Air Force attacked PKK bases in the mountains of northern Iraq. Several military campaigns have also aimed at the forces led by the Kurds in Syria.

The Ankara government ruled out new conversations until the PKK deposed the weapons, a process that has already begun.

3. Why did the PKK decided to demobilize?

A group of PKK soldiers. — Photo foot, A high fragile fire with the PKK broke in 2015.

In October 2024, Devlet Bahceli – a prominent Turkish nationalist leader and Erdogan's key ally – initiated a process that the Government described as “Türkiye free of terrorism.”

He urged PKK leader to ask the illegal organization to demobilize. This, as he suggested, could pave the way for his possible release from the island of Imrali.

The Turkish government began conversations with Öcalan through the Prokurdo De Dem party, and in February, the arrested leader made his historic call to the dissolution of the PKK, read by two DEM deputies who had just returned from a visit to the prison island.

“All groups must depose weapons and the PKK must dissolve,” said Öcalan's letter.

The PKK formed mainly because “the channels of democratic politics were closed,” he said, but the positive signs of Devlet Bahceli and Erdogan had created the conducive environment.

The PKK followed Öcalan's proposal and declared a stop the fire. Then he declared that he had “fulfilled his historical mission”: the Kurdish question could now “be resolved through democratic policy.”

President Erdogan said it was an “opportunity to take a historical step towards the destruction of the wall of terror” and met with Prokurdos politicians in April.

4. Why is Öcalan so important?

Öcalan looks at the camera while sitting in front of a table with a light blue tablecloth, a black individual, a glass of water and a sheet of paper. It is surrounded by a group of 6 more men who also look at the camera. — Photo foot, Öcalan, in the center to the front, published a video on Wednesday before Friday's ceremony.

As founder of the PKK, Öcalan is still despised by many Turks, even after 26 years in isolation.

But despite that he continues to play an important role for the Kurds.

“I think it really has that authority; it is a fundamental symbol for many Kurds, not for everyone,” says Joost Jongarden, a 41 -year conflict specialist at the University of Wageningen (Netherlands).

Two days before the PKK began its disarmament, Öcalan appeared in a video for the first time since it was tried more than 20 years ago.

Speaking for seven minutes, he addressed that illegalized organization: “I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not in weapons. And I ask them to put this principle into practice.”

Öcalan wore a Pole Lacoste Beige T -shirt. The shirt went viral quickly and the websites that sold it were exhausted. A sample of the relevance that it retains after decades in prison.

5. What happens next?

Several rifles on fire in a boiler. — Photo foot, A group of PKK soldiers burned their rifles symbolically in northern Iraq.

The situation will now move to the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, where a commission will be created to decide the next steps of the government.

With the summer break just around the corner, concrete decisions are not expected for several months, when the deputies vote on the recommendations of the commission and President Erdogan has the last word.

The fate of Abdullah Öcalan is not yet clear. The Government states that its prison conditions could be reviewed as the process progresses, but any possibility of liberation will be left for the last stages.

6. What does this process suppose for Erdogan?

Recep Tayipp Erdogan — Photo foot, The president of Türkiye, Erdogan, has denied wanting to continue in office when his mandate ends.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Erdogan has begun to work in a constitutional reform and it has been speculated that this would mean that Erdogan could appear again to the presidency when his term ends in 2028.

The AKP and the Prokurdo De party deny any link between the peace process and constitutional reform, but if Erdogan gets the support of the DEM, he would have many more possibilities to boost the changes.

Erdogan does not appear favored in the surveys, but his main rival in the opposition, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, is in prison accused of corruption, a position he denies.

And last week more mayors were arrested, in what is considered a repressive wave against the opposition.