PKK fighters, at war with Turkey for forty years, lay down arms in the Kurdistan Autonomous region, Iraq

Thirty Kurdish fighters from the PKK. the Kurdistan workers’ party, at the war against Ankara for four decades, carried out a first disarmament operation on Friday, July 11 in Iraq. According to a journalist from the Agency France-Presse (AFP). four commanders of the movement and their men deposited and burned their weapons during a ceremony 50 kilometers west of Souleimaniyé, in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, in northern Iraq.

This took place in the Casene cave, known for sheltering a printing that published one of the first Kurdish newspapers. The PKK praised a “Historical and democratic operation”. He now wishes to participate in Turkish political life, the co -president of the PKK, Bese Hozat, told AFP. “” We are ready and pkk fighters, war turkey forty willing to engage in democratic policy ” From Turkey, she said.

After the disarmament operation. the combatants had to return to the nearby mountains where they are based, said an PKK official to AFP earlier.

Representatives of the Autonomous Government of Iraqi Kurdistan. its President, Nechirvan Barzani, attended the operations, but it was not specified who had been dispatched by Ankara, apart from the members of the intelligence services according to the Turkish media. Kurdish local authorities had shortly announced two drones near the Kurdish forces positions. a few hours before the start of operations.

The release of Öcalan. a “primary requirement” of the PKK

A peace process launched in the fall of 2024 should make it possible to turn the page of more than four decades of violence which left at least 40,000 dead, and resolve the Kurdish issue both at national pkk fighters, war turkey forty and regional level, according to experts. On February 27. PKK chief Abdullah Öcalan, 76 years old, including twenty-six in prison, called the movement to “Place your arms and (…) to dissolve “saying “Assum the historical responsibility for this call”.

On Wednesday. in a video message in Turkish, Abdullah Öcalan, also called “apo” (“uncle”) by his followers, had confirmed the imminence of disarmament. Always detained on Imrali’s island, off Istanbul, “APO” does not claim to get out of it. The co -chair of the PKK, Bese Hozat, however pkk fighters, war turkey forty told AFP on Friday that the release of Mr. Öcalan was ” primary requirement ” of the party and ” a fundamental condition “ To continue the peace process. “As long as it is not done, it is very unlikely that [ce processus] continues successfully “she added.

For Turkey as for its Western allies, the PKK is considered a terrorist movement. Paradoxically. it was the leader of the nationalist party MHP, Devlet Bahceli, ally of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has reached out to the public enemy, proposing to call the combatants to renounce the armed struggle and “Come and express themselves in front of the parliament”. The Turkish Head of State recently expressed his confidence to see “A Türkiye without terrorist”hoping that “This promising process would successfully conclude as quickly as possible. without obstacle or risk of sabotage”.

Kurdish fighters regularly denounced the pkk fighters, war turkey forty continuation of Turkish bombing on their positions in Iraq despite the current process. Since the last violent fighting which had bloodied the Turkish city with a Kurdish majority of Diyarbakir (Southeast) in 2015. the PKK fighters have mainly remained confined to the mountains of Qandil, Iraq, also subject to the Ratage operations of the Turkish army.