New chapter: on Türkiye and the Kurdistan Workers Party’s announcement
Türkiye must ease restrictions in the Kurdish region and release Öcalan
The Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) announcement that it would withdraw all its fighters from Türkiye to northern Iraq marks a significant step in the peace process between Kurdish militants and the Turkish state. When the group’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, called on the PKK to disarm and dissolve in February, many doubted whether the outfit would honour his appeal. It has been waging an insurgency for decades. But in March, its executive committee declared that “none of our forces will take armed action unless attacked”. On May 12, the group announced its full dissolution, and that its demands could be met through “democratic politics”. Its fighters even held a symbolic weapons destruction ceremony. The group’s demands have changed over the years. An initial demand for an independent state for the Kurds was later moderated to greater rights and limited autonomy for the Kurdish region. But decades of violence, which claimed some 50,000 lives, seem to have blunted the PKK’s appetite for insurgency. Mr. Öcalan has been in jail since his capture in February 1999, while most of the group’s senior commanders operate from northern Iraq, which is periodically bombed by Türkiye. Political groups linked to the PKK have faced sustained crackdowns inside Türkiye.
Türkiye’s President Erdoğan has called the PKK’s decision to disarm “an irreversible turning point”. He has also appointed a 51-member cross-party parliamentary commission to chart the path forward. But the rebels are pressing for faster and firmer legislative action that would allow them to join “democratic politics”. Türkiye’s southeastern Kurdish regions have endured decades of military operations, displacement and economic stagnation. They deserve peace. The PKK is still a banned, terrorist organisation in Türkiye and allied countries. For the peace process to hold, Türkiye needs a new legal framework, governing amnesty, political participation, and the protection of Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights as the militants transition into political life. Without clear laws, disarmed PKK fighters could remain stranded in the mountains of northern Iraq, while their supporters at home would feel betrayed. Peaceful resolution of the Kurdish question could offer a template for addressing Kurdish grievances across the region — Iraq, Syria and Iran. Conversely, failure could reignite Türkiye’s conflict and embolden hardliners elsewhere who insist that states understand only force. Mr. Erdoğan should match the PKK’s decision with irreversible measures, including releasing Mr. Öcalan, easing restrictions in the Kurdish region and enacting laws that end the conflict and open a new chapter for Türkiye.