Kurdish militant group PKK to disband and disarm after 40-year insurgency
The decision by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party comes days after a party congress in northern Iraq.
A Kurdish militant group has announced a historic decision to disband and disarm as part of a new peace initiative with Turkey, after four decades of armed conflict.
The decision by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK, was announced by the Firat News Agency, a media outlet close to the group.
It comes days after the PKK convened a party congress in northern Iraq.
In February, its leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group to convene a congress and formally decide to disband, marking a pivotal step toward ending the decades-long conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s.
On March 1, the PKK announced a unilateral ceasefire but attached conditions, including the creation of a legal framework for peace negotiations.
The PKK is listed as a terror group by Turkey and its western allies.
