PKK Withdraws Fighters From Türkiye, Marks End of Four-Decade Insurgency
QANDIL, Iraq — The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced on Sunday that it has begun the full withdrawal of its remaining fighters from Türkiye to northern Iraq, a move marking the most decisive step yet in its transition from armed insurgency to political engagement, according to Al Jazeera News.
The declaration, made during a ceremony in the Qandil Mountains and witnessed by journalists, follows the group’s formal renunciation of its 40-year armed struggle in May and the symbolic destruction of a first batch of weapons in July. A photo released by the PKK showed 25 fighters, including eight women, who had already crossed into Iraq.
“We are implementing the withdrawal of all our forces within Türkiye,” a PKK statement read, calling on Ankara to take reciprocal “legal and political steps” to cement the peace process and allow Kurdish participation in democratic politics.
Turkish officials welcomed the announcement. Ömer Çelik, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), described the development as a “strategic and historic step” within the framework of a “Terrorism-Free Türkiye” initiative.
The PKK’s disarmament process stems from a thaw in relations that began last year when Ankara extended an olive branch to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, whose call for democratic coexistence has become central to the group’s new political direction.
The decades-long conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state has claimed more than 50,000 lives since 1984. Analysts say a lasting peace could reshape dynamics across the region, particularly in Syria, where U.S.-backed Kurdish forces share historic and ideological ties with the PKK.
