Latest news with #Apo
Gulf Today
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Kurdish PKK fighters destroy their weapons at disarmament ceremony
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. The ceremony marked a major step in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to bring an end to one of the region's longest-running conflicts. 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 bloody conflict that 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 at the scene said. This frame grab from video released by Rudaw TV shows PKK fighters standing next to a photo of their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan during a symbolic disarmament ceremony. AP 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. Speaking to AFP after the ceremony, the PKK's top female commander Bese Hozat said that for the process to succeed, it was essential to release Ocalan — known to his followers as 'Apo' — who has been serving life in solitary confinement since 1999. "Ensuring Leader Apo's physical freedom via legal guarantees, is essential... he should be able to freely lead and manage this process. This is our primary condition and demand," she said. "Without this development, it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully." Erdogan hailed the ceremony as an "important step" on the path to a "terror-free Turkey", expressing hope it would lead to "the establishment of lasting peace in our region." And a senior Turkish official source described it as a "concrete and welcome step." "We view this development as an irreversible turning point," he said, adding that the move to decommission weapons was part of a broader five-stage process. The following steps would involve the legal reintegration of former fighters into society, the establishment of mechanisms for their lawful return and for justice, ensuring accountability and stability. Agence France-Presse
LeMonde
11-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
Thirty PKK fighters surrender arms in symbolic step toward peace with Turkey
Thirty PKK fighters destroyed their weapons at a symbolic ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday, July 11, two months after the Kurdish rebels ended their decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state. The ceremony marked a major step in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to bring an end to one of the region's longest-running conflicts. 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 bloody conflict that 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 Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent at the scene said. 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. 'Öcalan's freedom essential' Speaking to AFP after the ceremony, the PKK's top female commander Bese Hozat said that for the process to succeed, it was essential to release Abdullah Öcalan – known to his followers as "Apo" – who has been serving life in solitary confinement since 1999. "Ensuring Leader Apo's physical freedom via legal guarantees, is essential... he should be able to freely lead and manage this process. This is our primary condition and demand," she said. "Without this development, it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully." Erdogan hailed the ceremony as an "important step" on the path to a "terror-free Turkey," expressing hope it would lead to "the establishment of lasting peace in our region." And a senior Turkish official source described it as a "concrete and welcome step." The following steps would involve the legal reintegration of former fighters into society, the establishment of mechanisms for their lawful return and for justice, ensuring accountability and stability. PKK militants have insisted on the need for legal reform in Turkey to allow them to return home freely and engage in democratic politics, Commander Hozat told AFP. "If Turkey… enacts laws and implements radical legal reforms… we will go to Turkey and engage in politics," she said. "If there is no legal constitutional arrangements, we will either end up in prison or being killed." The ceremony followed months of indirect negotiations between Öcalan and Ankara that began in October with Erdogan's blessing, and were facilitated by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party. The PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a string of bloody attacks on Turkish soil that sparked a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives. But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution, saying it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Öcalan, who, at 76, has spent the past 26 years behind bars.
Int'l Business Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
PKK Militants Want To Enter Turkish Politics: Top Commander
Kurdish militants want to return to Turkey and enter mainstream politics, one of the PKK's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the group's fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq. Speaking to AFP after handing in her own weapon alongside 29 of her comrades, the Kurdistan Workers' Party's top female commander Bese Hozat said if Turkey were willing, the disarmament process could be completed very quickly. But the 47-year-old militant also warned the fragile peace process risked being derailed if Ankara fails to free the PKK's jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan, also known as 'Apo' -- Kurdish for 'uncle'. "If Apo were freed tomorrow and... Turkey made legal and constitutional arrangements the next day, within a week we could return to engage in democratic politics," she said of a process which Ankara expects to last for months. Ocalan has been serving a life sentence in solitary confinement on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul since 1999 and his release has been a constant demand of the PKK. "Ensuring leader Apo's physical freedom legally, via legal guarantees, is essential... he should be able to freely lead and manage this process. This is our primary condition and demand," she said. "We want to see him, we miss him very much and there are many things we want to discuss with him," said Hozat, who joined the PKK when she was 16 and has spent more than three decades of her life as a fighter. "Without this development, it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully." Earlier this week, the 76-year-old dismissed talk of his own release as unimportant, positioning himself more as a guide than as a leader of the ongoing process. Hozat said it was essential Turkey put in place mechanisms to allow them to return without fear of prosecution or reprisal. "We do not want to wage armed struggle against Turkey, we want to come to Turkey and do democratic politics. In order for us... to achieve democratic integration with Turkey, it is imperative we can freely travel to Turkey," she said. "If Turkey takes concrete steps, enacts laws and implements radical legal reforms... we will go to Turkey and engage in politics. If (not)... we will end up either in prison or being killed." Asked whether she now expected Turkey and its Western allies to remove the PKK from their blacklists of terrorist organisations, Hozat said the issue was irrelevant. "Right now, the PKK no longer exists, we've dissolved it. We are a freedom movement.. advocating for peace and a democratic society. "The PKK has achieved its main goal: the existence of the Kurds has been recognised." Seen as the world's largest stateless people, the Kurds were left without a country when the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I. Although most live in Turkey, where they make up around a fifth of the population, the Kurds are also spread across Iraq, Iran and Syria, where Ankara has for years been striking Kurdish fighters. Hozat hailed positive changes in Syria since the PKK announced the end of its armed struggle against Turkey. "Turkish attacks on (Kurdish-majority) northeastern Syria have ceased and its autonomous administration is currently negotiating" with the Damascus government. Hozat said the Kurdish question was the key to freedom for all peoples of the Middle East. "If the Kurdish question is resolved, the Middle East can truly become a democracy," she said. "That's why we want this solution everywhere, including Iran, which must also become democratic. The Kurdish question must also be resolved there on the basis of autonomy." PKK co-chair Bese Hozat reads out a statement before she and 29 comrades destroyed their weapons. AFP
Rudaw Net
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
PKK says peace process cannot proceed unilaterally
Also in Turkey PKK disarmament ceremony to proceed without live broadcast: DEM Party Ocalan reaffirms PKK shift to peace, urges legislative oversight for peace process Erdogan receives pro-Kurdish party delegation PKK-Ankara peace process entering 'new phase': Ocalan A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An umbrella group that includes the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Thursday expressed its commitment to jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan's recent 'historic' message but stressed that Ankara also has to act in the peace process. 'We are determined to take the step Leader Apo [Ocalan] demands of us. We are taking this new step by thinking of our people and all peoples. However, this process cannot proceed unilaterally and only with the steps we take,' the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) said in a statement. Ocalan, in a video message recorded on June 19 and released Wednesday, announced the end of the PKK's armed struggle and renewed his call for the formation of a parliament commission to oversee the peace process with the Turkish government. The KCK said that the Turkish state 'has not taken any steps in response to the process or our actions,' but affirmed its commitment to Ocalan's message and the PKK disarmament process regardless. It further called for the release of Ocalan from prison, stressing 'only if Leader Apo is free can the process advance and achieve its goals. Otherwise, no further progress can be made under current conditions.' The PKK leader has been locked up in Turkey's secluded Imrali island since 1999 after being whisked away by Turkish intelligence agents in Nairobi, Kenya. A first batch of PKK fighters is set to disarm in a historic ceremony in the Kurdistan Region's Sulaimani province on Friday. The event marks a major milestone in a broader, months-long peace initiative led by Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which aims to end the four-decade conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The ceremony also comes as the PKK responded to a February appeal from Ocalan to abandon armed struggle in favor of a political solution. Founded in 1978, the PKK initially sought to establish an independent Kurdish state but has, in recent decades, shifted its focus toward securing greater political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
PKK to lay down arms after decades-long insurgency in Turkey
The Kurdish group PKK announced on Monday that it will fully disarm and disband, ending its decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, according to the Firat News Agency, an outlet linked closely with the group. The PKK has long been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Turkey, the European Union, NATO, and many other nations and entities. The landmark move announced Monday will end a 40-year conflict that killed more than 40,000 people. The group declared that it had completed its "historical mission" and had thus "decided to dissolve the PKK's organizational structure, with the practical process to be managed and carried out by Leader Apo [Abdullah Ocalan], and to end the armed struggle method." The announcement came after the group's imprisoned founder and ideological leader, Abdullah Ocalan, made a call in a public letter in February, addressed to its leadership, asking the PKK to lay down its arms permanently. The PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire the following month. The group was formed in 1978 with the ambition of creating a separate, independent homeland for Turkey's large Kurdish minority, but it later dropped its separatist ambitions and focused on achieving greater rights for the group within Turkish society. A spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) welcomed the announcement, calling it, "a significant step towards a terror free Turkey." Spokesman Omer Celik said the PKK's decision should be "implemented with all its dimensions, without any shortcomings, and with concrete goals." There were, however, no details immediately released about the technicalities of the group's disbanding, such as what would happen with all the weapons it has held for decades, or if its members would receive legal amnesty in Turkey. In its statement, the PKK said the issue of Kurdish rights had come "to a point where it can be resolved through democratic politics," urging the Turkish parliament to take "a historical role" in completing the process. Erdogan's government has had a complex relationship with the country's Kurds. While some progress was made in restoring Kurdish rights since the AKP came to power in 2002, scores of Kurdish rights defenders were also imprisoned after the collapse of peace talks in 2015. The announcement will have wider consequences for the region, especially in Iraq, Syria and Iran, all of which share borders with Turkey and have significant Kurdish minority populations of their own. The disarmament of the PKK could also help clear up a thorny issue between the U.S. and its NATO ally. Turkey has long been critical of U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish group YPG, which Turkey considers an extension of the PKK. The YPG and allied Kurdish militias were instrumental allies to the U.S. in the war against ISIS in Syria. Newly discovered vintage photos reveal San Francisco mystery Josh's mom on making a move What will Pope Leo XIV mean for the Church?
