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The Hindu
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
PKK's disarmament offers hope for Kurds, but regional concerns persist
The Partiya Karkari Kurdistan, or the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has disbanded itself after defining the struggle of Turkish Kurds for autonomy with its guerrilla warfare for decades. The disbandment comes after a 'historic' decision taken during a congress held in northern Iraq in early May this year. The decision to disband was made following calls for peace and democratic process by Abdullah Ocalan, founder of the PKK, from the prison in Imrali island in the Sea of Marmara off the Turkiye coast, where he has been kept in solitary confinement since 1999. The move follows months of talks between the 'rebel' and representatives of the Turkish government, initiated by ultra-nationalist MP Devlet Bahceli of the Nationalist Movement Party and joined by pro-Kurdish MPs of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM). The public announcement made by Mr. Ocalan on February 27 culminated in 30 PKK members destroying their weapons at a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region, on July 11. Conflict in West Asia 'Given the rising fascist pressure and exploitation around the globe and current bloodbath in the Middle East, our people are more than ever in need of a peaceful, free, equal and democratic life. In such a context, we fully feel and comprehend the greatness, righteousness and urgency of the step we have taken,' the Group for Peace and Democratic Society, formed to accelerate the process of democratic change in place of the PKK, said in a statement following the ceremonial laying-down of weapons. 'The PKK was born in the 20th century, in the most violent epoch of the history of humanity, amidst the two world wars, under the shadow of the experience of real socialism and the cold war around the world,' Mr. Ocalan had said in his statement from prison. Mr. Ocalan, who had transitioned his ideology from Marxist-Leninism into 'democratic confederalism' during his imprisonment, alludes his decision to disarm to the democratic steps taken by the Turkish government on Kurdish issues, along with regional developments, which rendered armed resistance with no meaning. Democratic confederalism, for Mr. Ocalan, is the contrasting paradigm of the oppressed people. He describes it as a borderless, community-based democracy that promotes ecological living and radical gender equality. 'Respect for identities, free self-expression, democratic self-organisation of each segment of society based on their own socio-economic and political structures are only possible through the existence of a democratic society and political space,' he said in his call for disarmament. In his view, a separate nation-state, federation, administrative autonomy, or culturalist solution for the Kurds fail to answer Turkish society's needs. 'There is no alternative to democracy in the pursuit and realisation of a political system. Democratic consensus is the fundamental way.' Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a speech on July 12, acknowledged the burning of weapons and announced the establishment of a commission to talk about the legal needs in the Turkish Parliament for the path to peace. He also admitted that previous governments had pursued policies that contributed to conflict and said Turkiye had spent two trillion dollars on the war with the PKK, an important shift in tone. Persecuted minority Founded in 1978 by Mr. Ocalan, the PKK followed a Marxist-Leninist doctrine in response to persecution faced by stateless Kurdish people and to support their aspirations to establish an independent Kurdish state. Their main targets were the fascist right, Turkish left, state agents, and, above all, Kurdish landlords who worked in tandem with the state to exploit the Kurdish masses. The PKK launched its armed insurgency in Turkiye in 1984, following decisions made at its second party congress in Daraa of Syria in 1982. Led by Mahsum Korkmaz, also known as Agit, the first commander of the PKK's military forces, the group attacked a gendarmerie station in the Siirt province of Turkiye, killing a soldier. This was followed up by a raid on a police outpost in the same province and marked the start of the armed rebellion for Kurdistan. While the Kurdish masses were initially shocked by the PKK's violence, the increasingly degrading treatment they endured at the hands of the Turkish state, including military sweeps, arbitrary arrests, and widespread torture, made them receptive to the PKK. Regional ripples However, Mr. Ocalan's call for peace was not just for the PKK. 'All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,' he said. 'All groups' indicate that he means all PKK offshoots in Syria and Iran. While the PKK has grown to be the face of the Kurdish cause, it is not the sole unit fighting for it. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, the Free Life of Kurdistan Party (PJAK) in Iran, and the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (PCDK) in Iraq are all allied with the PKK. The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) serves as an umbrella organisation for all the groups, and the People's Protection Units (YPG), formed in 2012 during the Syrian civil war, serves as the armed wing for the cause. While the PKK's disarmament and dispersal might accelerate the peace process in Turkiye, questions remain over the future of the Kurdish struggle for identity and autonomy. Oil fields in the Iraqi Kurdistan came under unclaimed attack by explosives-laden drones in the days following the dispersal of the PKK, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq. 'The suicide drones that targeted oil fields in the Kurdistan Region last week flew from Dibis, Kirkuk,' Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff to Iraqi Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, said in a social media post. In Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with links to the PKK, has been in negotiation with Turkiye regarding its future in the region following the fall of the Assad regime. The interim government in Syria, led by former jihadist Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, wants the SDF to lay down arms and integrate itself into the state. While the PKK's announcement to disarm was welcomed by SDF leader Mazloum Abdi, he said his group would not disarm and that Mr. Ocalan's decision did not extend to Syria. The PKK's disarmament has essentially brought the Kurdish struggle to a crossroads. If the democratic process in Turkiye proves successful, it could motivate Kurds in other countries in the Kurdish heartland, including Syria, Iraq and Iran, to facilitate a similar peaceful quest for autonomy. But the risk of the process going off track and pushing back their struggle by decades is something that keeps the fragmented Kurdish societies sceptical.
Gulf Today
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Kurdish leader calls for laying down of arms
It was something that was in the making for some months now. First came the appeal by Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli in October last for a terror-free Turkey, and his invitation to the Kurdish rebel leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan, serving a life-term in the Imrali prison, to come to parliament and renounce terrorism. The overture was supported by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a historic window of opportunity. This was followed by meetings with Ocalan by members of the People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in December last and again in January. It was at their third meeting on Thursday that Ocalan issued the statement asking the PKK to lay down arms and dissolve itself. He has given his own reasoning why this needs to be done. He said that it is time to return to democratic norms. The question remains whether the PKK rebels would heed his call. The armed rebellion has been on since 1984. The Turkish Kurds have not been able to achieve their goal of an independent Kurdistan in south-east Turkey. Ocalan said in his statement, which was read out in Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and English, 'As in the case with any modern community or party whose existence has not been abolished by force, would voluntarily do, convene your congress and make a decision: all groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself.' Ocalan is justifying the call by implying that the Kurds have not lost the war, and therefore they can join the democratic process in a politically dignified way. And he had argued in detail the background of the emergence of the armed rebellion of PKK in the last century, and why it has to end now. He said that PKK rose in the context of 'intense violence, two world wars, the rise and fall of real socialism, the Cold War and the denial of Kurdish identity', but now it has to end because 'the collapse of real socialism in the 1990s due to internal reasons, the erosion of identity denial in the country, and advancements in freedom of expression, have led to the PKK's loss of meaning and excessive repetition. Therefore, like its counterparts, it has reached the end of its lifespan, making its dissolution necessary.' It is a well-reasoned argument. Even if the hotheads in the PKK refuse to accept Ocalan's call, this will send out a message of reconciliation to the Kurds in general in Turkey. This also means that Turkey's hard stance over the Kurds has softened, and that it is possible for the Kurds to express their demands and be heard as well. Ocalan has clearly expressed the demand of the Kurds for democratic freedom. He urged Turkey to respect ethnic minorities, the freedom of self-expression and the right of democratic self-organisation. He said, 'The language of the epoch of peace and democratic society needs to be developed in accordance with this reality.' Ocalan is making reasonable demands even as he gives up the path of violence as no more relevant. The peace will not happen overnight, and the negotiations will be long drawn. The PKK can seize the opportunity and end its war which is harming the ordinary Kurds in Turkey more than helping them get their rights. This will bring to a close a long-fought war of terrorism, where neither the PKK nor Turkey can declare victory. So, Ocalan has rightly seen the peace offer as a solution which retains the dignity of the Kurd rebels intact. It is not an ignominious capitulation. It is not defeat. Ocalan has given them enough reasons to make them feel that their fight has not been futile, but that circumstances have changed.
