The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has declared a ceasefire with Turkey on Saturday “to facilitate the path” towards the implementation of peace and disarmament, after its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, urged the group to lay down its arms and disband, after almost four decades of armed struggle against the Turkish authorities.
“In this context, we declare an effective ceasefire as of today in order to pave the way for the implementation of Leader Apo’s Call for Peace and a Democratic Society,” the group said in a statement reported by the pro-PKK news agency ANF.
In this context, the Executive Committee of the PKK, classified as a terrorist group by Ankara, has stated that it “starts a new historical process” and that Ocalan’s call “lights the way for all the forces of freedom and democracy.”
“We agree with the content of the call as it is, we declare that we will comply with it and implement it,” the PKK said, after its leader called on the group to lay down their arms and disband.
“THE RESPONSIBILITY FALLS ON US”
The message made by Ocalan has been described by the organization as “historically important”, and its “successful” practical implementation is of similar significance. “It is clear that with this call a new historical process has begun in Kurdistan and the Middle East,” the group said.
“Based on this, the responsibility falls on all of us; everyone must assume their responsibility and fulfill their duties and responsibilities,” they said, adding that, for it to be successful, “the democratic policy and legal basis must also be adequate.”
The PKK also stressed that “in order to achieve the successful implementation of the call for peace and democratization of Turkey and the Middle East, leader Ocalan must be able to live and work freely, establishing relations without restrictions.” “It is expected that the relevant authorities will facilitate these conditions,” they insisted.
“IT IS NOT AN END, BUT A NEW BEGINNING”
The PKK has argued that the ceasefire “is definitely not an end, but rather a new beginning.” Consequently, they have expressed that “now” they must “do very clearly and forcefully what we should have done in the last 35 years in general and in the last 20 years in particular, but which we could not do enough at that time.”
“It is necessary to correctly and adequately understand the leader’s call, his reasons, the characteristics and tasks of the new process he has initiated, and successfully meet his requirements,” they have qualified. Therefore, they have claimed that they will develop the organization in a “democratic” way.
“Let us therefore correctly understand the characteristics of this new process and successfully fulfil its functions,” they concluded.
The Turkish government and the PKK, a group founded in 1978 that took up arms six years later, had already initiated peace talks in 2013, but these talks collapsed in 2015 and were followed by an outbreak of fighting in the Kurdish-majority areas in the south-east and east of the country.
While the PKK called for the creation of an independent state after its founding, it now advocates greater autonomy in the Kurdish-majority areas, located mainly in the east and south-east of the country, part of what is considered historical Kurdistan, which also extends to parts of Syria, Iraq and Iran.
