The Kurdistan Workers Party has begun removing all remaining fighters from Turkiye into northern Iraq, marking a major step in the effort to end a four decade conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
PKK withdrawal strengthens the peace process that Ankara launched last year when officials reopened talks with the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan. The move follows the organisation’s formal renunciation of armed struggle in May and the destruction of a first batch of weapons during a symbolic July event.
The announcement was delivered on Sunday in the Qandil region of northern Iraq, where PKK representatives said the shift reflects their intention to pursue democratic politics rather than armed rebellion. Journalists on site from AFP saw twenty five fighters, including eight women, who had already made the journey across the border.
Ömer Celik, spokesperson for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, said the move forms part of a “Terrorism Free Turkiye process”. He described it as a “strategic and historic step” while urging continued progress.
The PKK said that its transition would only succeed if Turkiye introduces new legal protections that allow Kurdish participation in public life.
“The legal and political steps required by the process and the laws of freedom and democratic integration necessary to participate in democratic politics must be put in place without delay,” the group said.
The organisation maintains that its future activity will centre on defending the rights of the Kurdish minority through peaceful means, reflecting earlier calls by Ocalan from his prison cell on Imrali Island.
The armed struggle began in 1984 and left roughly 50,000 people dead according to figures quoted by Turkish and international sources. Sporadic fighting across Turkiye’s southeast prompted frequent states of emergency and significant displacement inside the country.
The July disarmament event in northern Iraq, when fighters publicly destroyed weapons, was praised by Ankara as a turning point. Erdogan declared at the time that “a new page has opened in history” and that the door to “a great, powerful Turkiye” was now open.
The end of armed clashes in Turkiye could reshape political and security dynamics across the wider region. Turkish authorities view Syrian Kurdish forces as linked to the PKK. Those same forces have been key United States partners in Syria, creating ongoing tensions between Ankara and Washington.
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Africa Digital News, New YorkÂ
