The Largest Kurdish Militant Group, The PKK, Has Disbanded And Burned Its Weapons To Disarm
The disarmament could impact not just Turkey but also Iraq, Syria and Iran, where the PKK has had a presence.
In a historic step, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has announced it is disarming and burned its weapons, ending more than 40 years of fighting against Turkey.
The PKK is a Kurdish militant political and armed organization founded in 1978 by Abdullah Öcalan that sought to establish an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey, where a significant Kurdish population resides.
Over time, its goals shifted to demanding greater autonomy, cultural recognition and political rights for Kurds within Turkey, and the group launched an armed insurgency against the Turkish government in 1984.
The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, EU and the UK, and its four-decade insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people and caused deep social and economic divisions, according to Reuters.
On July 11, in a symbolic move, about 30 PKK fighters burned their weapons at the Jasana cave in the Dukan area in northern Iraq.
Women and men PKK members, who called themselves the “Group for Peace and Democratic Society,” placed rifles, machine guns and other arms into a large cauldron, which was then set on fire.
Turkish officials said the ceremony was an “irreversible turning point”, and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it an “important step toward a terror-free Turkey.”
The PKK was the first group to lay down arms, with the full disarmament process expected to last throughout the summer and possibly extend into September.
The move followed calls from their imprisoned leader Öcalan, who called the move “historic gain,” according to Al Jazeera.
Fighters have announced their intention to pursue Kurdish rights through “democratic politics and legal methods.”
The disarmament could impact not just Turkey but also Iraq, Syria and Iran, where the PKK has had a presence.
You Might Also Be Interested In
Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
