The terrorist group PKK will announce a ‘historic decision’ following the call made at the end of February by Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the armed organisation, in which he called for the group to surrender its weapons and disband, considering that it had ‘reached the end of its useful life’.
Numerous Turkish media outlets reported that, following Öcalan’s statement, the PKK had called a congress between 5 and 7 May to be held simultaneously in two separate locations, in which ‘representatives from all areas of the PKK’s work’ would participate and at which ‘decisions of historic importance’ were taken, according to these media outlets, citing a statement published by the PKK-affiliated news agency Fırat.
The armed group’s statement said that ‘decisions of historic importance regarding the activities of the PKK’ had been taken ‘in response to the call by leader Apo (Öcalan)’. The congress was reportedly held in what the PKK calls ‘defence zones’, referring to the Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq where it has its main bases. The organisation added in the statement that the results and details of the decisions taken would be shared with the public ‘very soon, once the resolutions adopted at the two locations’ of the congress have been combined.
Half a century of conflict and more than 40,000 dead
The Party for Democracy and Equality of Peoples (DEM Parti), successor to the HDP and considered by many to be the political brnnch of the PKK in Turkey, praised the statement released by the PKK – which announced a ceasefire on 1 March following Öcalan’s historic appeal – as a step towards peace in Turkey: ‘With the historic decisions taken at the PKK congress, we are one step closer to a horizon of peace after 50 years of conflict. This is a step towards the rebirth and development of democratic peace and politics that we have been waiting for for centuries in the heart of our ancient land,’ the party said in another statement.
In the absence of the ‘historic decision’ that the PKK is preparing to announce, everyone in Turkey takes it for granted that the terrorist group will follow Öcalan’s call and announce the surrender of its weapons and its dissolution, thus ending a conflict that has lasted almost half a century and cost more than 40,000 dead, precisely at a time when the armed organisation was at its lowest capacity, increasingly contested in Turkish society – including among the Kurdish population – and with recruitment at an all-time low.
In a speech delivered yesterday to members of his AKP party and government ministers, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said that the PKK ‘will surrender its weapons today or tomorrow,’ anticipating the decision announced today by the group. ‘We have overcome all obstacles. The terrorist organisation will be dissolved, and a new era will begin for all of us,’ Erdoğan said.
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
