Turkey's leader says PKK disarmament opens 'new page in history' after group lays down arms
Copyright Markus Schreiber/Copyright 2025
By Euronews with AP
Published on 12/07/2025 -
Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the disarmament of the Kurdish PKK militant group as a victory for his country after its members began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony on Friday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a “new page in history” has turned, after the Kurdish PKK militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in the country began laying down their weapons.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, held a symbolic ceremony on Friday in northern Iraq. It was the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament, as part of a peace process.
Speaking at a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party on Saturday, Erdogan hailed the event as a victory.
“Turkey has won, my nation has won. Every single one of our 86 million citizens, Turkish, Kurdish, and Arab has won,” he said.
"We will not participate in, nor will we engage in, any attempt to threaten our unity, our integrity, our homeland, our state, our nation, our peace, our honour and our pride," Erdogan added.
The PKK announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities.
"As of yesterday, the 47-year scourge of terrorism has entered the process of ending, God willing," Erdogan said. "As of yesterday, Turkey began to close a long, painful and tear-filled chapter."
The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm.
Footage from Friday's event showed fighters — both men and women — casting rifles and machine guns into a large cauldron, where they were then set ablaze.
The PKK issued a statement from the fighters who were laying down their weapons, saying that they had disarmed “as a gesture of goodwill and a commitment to the practical success” of the peace process.
“We will henceforth continue our struggle for freedom, democracy, and socialism through democratic politics and legal means,” the statement said.
The state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that 30 fighters had disarmed “symbolically” on Friday, and that the continuing disarmament process “will take place in stages.” The process is expected to be completed by September, the agency reported.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has begun destroying its weapons in an unprecedented move to end armed struggle and transition to peaceful political resistance, responding to a call from imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is a cross-border Kurdish militant organisation founded by Abdullah Öcalan in 1978 that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984, initially seeking an independent Kurdish state but later shifting to demands for greater cultural and political autonomy within Turkey.
The Peace and Democratic Society Group announced the start of disarmament ceremonies by PKK fighters in a symbolic step representing the third phase of implementing the party's decision to withdraw from armed action, 964 media reported on July 11.
"We destroy our weapons before you, by our free will, in realisation of our ideology, and on the basis of enacting laws of democratic integration," the group said in a statement from Sulaymaniyah.
The fighters said they came in response to Öcalan's call issued on June 19, and his peace and democratic society appeal announced on February 27, along with decisions from the PKK's 12th congress held on May 5-7.
The group said it would continue its struggle for freedom, democracy and socialism through democratic politics and legal means as a gesture of good faith and determination for the practical success of the peace and democratic society process.
"We completely agree with leader Abdullah Öcalan's saying: 'I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not in the power of weapons, and I call on you to apply this principle'," the statement said.
The fighters acknowledged that nothing had been easy or free without struggle, with everything achieved by paying a high price daily and fighting with all available strength. They said the future would continue with hard struggle. The group called on all regional and global forces responsible for their people's suffering to respect legitimate national and democratic rights and support the peace process and democratic solution.
They appealed to all peoples, especially women, youth, workers, democratic and socialist forces, intellectuals, writers, academics, lawyers, artists and politicians to understand the historic step correctly and show solidarity.
Designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States, European Union and other countries, the group operates from mountainous bases in northern Iraq and has been involved in a conflict that has killed an estimated 30,000-40,000 people over four decades. Öcalan was captured in 1999 and imprisoned for life, and in February 2025 he called on the PKK to lay down its arms and dissolve itself.
Erdogan rejoices as Kurdish PKK fighters destroy weapons at disarmament ceremony
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his country had achieved victory after Kurdish rebels destroyed their weapons, ending their decades-long armed struggle against Ankara.
Issued on: 12/07/2025 - RFI
Friday's symbolic weapons destruction ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan marked a major step in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics -- part of a broader effort to end one of the region's longest-running conflicts.
"Turkey has won. Eighty-six million citizens have won," Erdogan said. "We know what we are doing. Nobody needs to worry or ask questions. We are doing all this for Turkey, for our future".
Armed struggle
Thirty PKK fighters destroyed their weapons at a symbolic ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday, two months after the Kurdish rebels ended their decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state.
Analysts say that with the PKK weakened and the Kurdish public exhausted by decades of violence, Turkey's peace offer handed its jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan a chance to make the long-desired switch away from armed struggle.
The PKK's disarmament also grants President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the distinction of being the Turkish leader who managed to draw a line under a conflict that has cost more than 40,000 lives and wrought havoc in Turkey and beyond.
Outside the ancient cave of Casene, a group of 30 PKK fighters, men and women, gathered on a stage in khaki fatigues, their faces uncovered, in front of an audience of around 300 people, an AFP correspondent reported.
PKK ends 40-year fight but doubts remain about the next steps
One by one, they walked down to lay their weapons in a cauldron in which a fire was lit. Most were rifles but there was one machine gun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
As they looked on, people in the crowd started cheering while others could be heard weeping.
After the ceremony, the fighters returned to the mountains, a PKK commander said.
France's foreign ministry said it welcomed Friday's ceremony, adding it hoped the PKK's dissolution would "be effective and verifiable", bring an end to the violence, and "give rise to an inclusive political process".
Dissolution
The PKK was formed in 1978 by Ankara University students, with the ultimate goal of achieving the Kurds' liberation through armed struggle.
It took up arms in 1984, beginning a string of bloody attacks on Turkish soil.
But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution and said it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by their leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is in a Turkish jail since 1999.
Earlier this week, Ocalan said the disarmament process would be "implemented swiftly".
In recent months, the PKK has taken several historic steps, starting with a ceasefire and culminating in its formal dissolution announced on May 12.
The shift followed a historic appeal at the end of February by Ocalan, 76, who has spent the past 26 years behind bars.
(With newswires)
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