May 9, 2025 - The PKK will likely announce it will disband and disarm very soon. I'll be very interested to read the full statement they will release soon.
From an outsider's point of view it's not as if Türkiye under Erdoğan has become much more open to Kurdish and other minority rights in recent years, looking for example at all the arrested Kurdish politicians, or what the Turkish-backed HTS jihadis are doing in Syria. Compared to the 80s however it has of course improved.
In his February statement, Öcalan described the armed struggle as a product of a bygone era. In a one-and-a-half-page message, Öcalan explained that the PKK's armed struggle was once necessary due to Turkish state policies that denied Kurdish identity and restricted Kurds' rights and freedoms. "The PKK was born in the 20th century, in the most violent epoch of human history - amidst the two world wars, under the shadow of real socialism and the Cold War," Ocalan wrote. However, he argued that the Turkish government's recent democratic reforms on Kurdish issues, along with regional developments, have rendered armed struggle obsolete. "All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself," he said. Öcalan’s reference to “all groups” is understood to include the PKK’s affiliates and offshoots in Syria and Iran, as well as its umbrella organisation, the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK), which operates in those countries as well as Iraq and Turkey.
In March, the PKK publicly announced that it would comply with Ocalan’s directive and declared a ceasefire. As part of ongoing negotiations between Ocalan and the Turkish government, a separate deal was reached in March between Mazlum Abdi Şahin, commander of the PKK-linked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The agreement grants Damascus full control over state institutions in northeastern Syria, effectively nullifying the possibility of a Kurdish state or a federal system in the country. Many analysts view Ocalan’s call as a direct consequence of Turkey’s military success in isolating the PKK in Iraq’s Qandil mountains. Since 2016, Turkish forces have used advanced drone technology and electronic warfare capabilities to deprive the PKK of territorial control and infiltration routes.
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