Turkey’s jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to disarm and disband on Thursday, a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Ankara and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region.
If the PKK leadership heeds its founder’s call to lay down its arms, which is not guaranteed, President Tayyip Erdogan would gain a historic opportunity to pacify and develop southeastern Turkey, where violence has killed thousands of people and devastated the regional economy.
Meanwhile, Ocalan himself, now 75, could see his dream of peace during his life time realized after having been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul in near-total isolation since 1999.
In neighboring Syria, the new administration could assert greater control over its Kurdish north as it seeks to rebuild a nation fractured by civil war, while peace would also remove a constant flashpoint in Kurdish-run, oil-rich northern Iraq, where the PKK set up its base two decades ago.
"I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call,” Ocalan said in a letter made public by Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party members.
Ocalan wants his party to hold a Congress and to formally agree to dissolve itself, they quoted him as saying.
A DEM delegation visited Ocalan on Thursday in the prison on Imrali island and later delivered his message in nearby Istanbul, a photo of them together with Ocalan projected onto the wall behind them.
There was no immediate response from the PKK headquarters in the mountains of northern Iraq, while Kurdish-led forces in Syria said Ocalan’s message was "positive”.
The group is deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Longstanding insurgency
More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its armed campaign in 1984 for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey. It has since moved away from its separatist goals and instead sought more autonomy for southeast Turkey and greater Kurdish rights.
The pro-Kurdish political movement, the target of a years-long judicial crackdown, will hope Ocalan’s move helps usher in democratic reforms and cultural and language rights in Turkey.
The PKK insurgency largely centered on the southeast but also involved deadly attacks in Istanbul and other Turkish cities. Most of those killed in the conflict were PKK militants.
The White House on Thursday welcomed the call to lay down arms.
"It’s a significant development and we hope that it will help assuage our Turkish allies about U.S. counter-ISIS partners in northeast Syria. We believe it will help bring peace to this troubled region,” said Brian Hughes, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
Iraq also welcomed on Thursday the call by Ocalan calling this step ‘positive and important’ to achieve stability in the region, the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
