SULAIMANIYAH: Fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party will soon destroy their weapons as a “goodwill gesture” to signal their commitment to disarming after decades of conflict with Turkey, two commanders said.
The planned disarmament marks a turning point in the militant group’s transition from armed insurgency to political negotiation, as part of a broader effort to end one of the region’s longest-running conflicts.
The group declared an end to its armed campaign in May -- a conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 1984 and long strained Turkey’s relations with its Kurdish population and regional neighbours.
“As a gesture of goodwill, a number of PKK fighters, who had taken part in fighting Turkish forces in recent years, will destroy or burn their weapons in a ceremony in the coming days,“ the commander said, requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The move was confirmed by another commander who also spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party -- widely known by its Kurdish initials PKK -- has led a decades-long armed campaign for Kurdish rights in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.
Representatives of political parties, local observers and the media will attend the ceremony, which will take place in the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
The commander said the PKK had yet to decide on the exact number of fighters -- men and women -- who would disarm, the location and the timing of the event.
In recent months, the PKK has taken several historic steps, starting with a ceasefire and culminating in its formal dissolution announced on May 12.
The shift followed an appeal by its founder Abdullah Ocalan, delivered in a letter from Imrali prison, on an island south of Istanbul, where he has been held in solitary confinement since 1999.
The first commander said a new statement from Ocalan was expected soon.
A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Turkish DEM party, which has played a key role in facilitating contacts between Ocalan and Ankara, is expected to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next week before visiting Ocalan in prison.
Most of the PKK’s fighters have spent the past decade in the mountains of northern Iraq, where Turkey also maintains military bases and has carried out frequent operations against Kurdish fighters.
Until now, there has been little detail about how the dissolution mechanism would work but Ankara has said it would carefully monitor the process to ensure full implementation.
