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The ageing leader of a Kurdish militant group imprisoned on a remote Turkish island has called on the group to disarm and dissolve itself, signalling the start of a fragile peace with Turkey after four decades of guerrilla warfare, attacks and reprisals.
Abdullah Öcalan, a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), a group long regarded as a terrorist organisation in Turkey as well as in Britain and the US, issued the message in a letter read out by allies in Istanbul.
“I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility for this call,” Öcalan was quoted as saying. “All groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself.”
Öcalan’s message will have far-reaching implications across the Middle East, not least in Syria where Kurdish forces control significant territory, but also in Iran and Iraq.
The 75-year-old is serving a life sentence at an island prison south of Istanbul, after being captured by Turkish special forces in Kenya in 1999.
His message was greeted with joy in the Istanbul conference room where Öcalan’s allies gathered to broadcast his call, after displaying a photo of supporters visiting the white-haired septuagenarian. A group of older Kurdish peace activists ululated as the call to lay down arms was read out.
“This is the breaking point of history and it is a positive one,” said Sırrı Süreyya Önder of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) party. “We are here with a compass to find a possible route out of these dark chaotic days.”
Önder hinted at some of the potential problems to come, adding that while Öcalan called for the PKK’s dissolution and to lay down arms, that all of this “requires the recognition of democratic politics,” and legal support for a sustained peace.
DEM party politicians said they were hoping for a reprieve in government pressure following the announcement, after authorities in Ankara have sought to replace multiple politicians and mayors affiliated to the group, particularly in the majority-Kurdish southeast.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has sought unilateral disarmament from the PKK, publicly quashing suggestions that Öcalan’s announcement would herald the start of peace talks.
Some in government responded to Öcalan’s announcement with caution. “We will look at the result,” said the deputy head of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development party.
The PKK has been responsible for a string of attacks since its founding in 1978, notably car bombings and shootings primarily aimed at Turkish military and security targets. The group claimed responsibility for an attack on a state-owned arms company near Ankara last October, killing at least five people and wounding 22 more.
A ceasefire between the PKK and Turkey collapsed in 2015, prompting Ankara to renew attacks on the group using drones and airstrikes, targeting fighters across the mountains of northern Iraq. The International Crisis Group thinktank estimates that more than 7,152 people have been killed in clashes or attacks in Turkey and northern Iraq in the years since, including 646 civilians, over 4,000 militants, and almost 1,500 members of Turkish security forces.
Öcalan’s message is set to ripple across factions of Kurdish armed groups spread across northeastern Syria and northern Iraq with links to the PKK, particularly the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who battled IS militants and remain in control of a swath of territory including two major cities in eastern Syria.
The group is in talks with the new authority in Damascus after the overthrow of former president Bashar al-Assad, negotiating control over northeastern Syria as well as their future role in a nationwide military force. Öcalan’s announcement appears set to further pressure and isolate the SDF, who have clashed with Turkish-backed militias in Syria and long been targeted by Turkish strikes.
Gönül Töl, an analyst at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Öcalan likely decided the time was right to call for an end to hostilities as “he thinks things are not going well for the PKK right now”.
“It’s about his legacy,” she said. “He wants to be the one who ended this fight, and the PKK doesn’t have many options. There is a new authority in Syria, and the Syrian Kurds don’t have a strong hand. In Iraq there’s a new central government that is more willing to work with Turkey to squeeze the PKK.”
Berkay Mandıracı, of the International Crisis Group, said the PKK appeared to be “weakened” after a decade of intensive fighting.
“Turkish officials now appear to assess it is a good time to end the 40-year conflict with the PKK through a mix of military force and political manoeuvring,” he said, spurred by regional shifts across the Middle East. With Ankara poised to play a major role in Syria and the wider region, he said, Turkish officials wanted to remove any potential impediments.
Rumours of a declaration have rumbled for months while Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party shuttled between different Kurdish factions and Öcalan’s island prison for negotiations.
How the different factions within the PKK might respond to Öcalan’s call also remained opaque. Earlier this month, one PKK commander told a television channel close to the faction that much of the group would only regard the command as serious if Öcalan demands they disarm after walking free from prison.
“This work cannot be done only through a call,” he said. “We are a movement with tens of thousands of armed people. These fighters are not on a payroll to be sacked. These are ideological fighters.” Öcalan, he said, “has to speak while free. If not, how can [PKK militants] be convinced to lay down their arms?”
