Kurdish militant group ends 40-year struggle against Türkiye

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party has disbanded itself, saying its members will now fight for their rights by political means

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has said it will disband and has ended its armed struggle against Türkiye. Ankara welcomed the move as a milestone towards a “terror-free Türkiye” but said the group must fully implement its decision.

The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against Türkiye since 1984 to gain autonomy for Kurds, chose to lay down arms at a party congress in early May, but only announced the decision on Monday. In a statement, it said that the PKK has “carried the Kurdish issue to a level where it can be solved by democratic politics, and the PKK has completed its mission in that sense.”

The move came after a public call in February by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been confined in a Turkish jail on separatism charges since 1999, urging the group to dissolve and adopt nonviolent methods. At the time, Ocalan sent a letter to party members saying, “there is no alternative to democracy in the pursuit and realization of a political system.” Following the message, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire.

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Omer Celik, the spokesman for Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party welcomed the decision as “an important stage in terms of the ‘terror-free Türkiye goal”.

“If terrorism is completely ended, the door to a new era will open,” he added, cautioning that “this decision needs to be implemented in practice and realized in all its dimensions.” Celik also insisted that the dissolution should also apply to “all branches and extensions of the PKK and its illegal structures.” 

He was apparently referring to the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara deems an extension of the PKK. The group, which enjoys US backing and mainly operates in Syria, has yet to comment on the PKK decision.

Founded in 1978, the PKK launched an armed insurgency against the Turkish state, initially seeking independence and later autonomy and civil rights for Kurds. Ankara sought to suppress the group for decades. The conflict has killed an estimated 40,000 people, many of them civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands in southeastern Türkiye. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU.