The Kurdish PKK Group declares the termination of fire with Turkey

A banned Kurdish group PKK has announced the cessation of fire with Turkey after its closed leader Abdullah Okalan called on the movement to put his hands and dissolve.

In a statement on Saturday, the PKK said it hoped Turkey released Okalan, which has been closed in seclusion since 1999, so it could lead a process of disarmament.

This follows his call this week, aimed at ending four decades of armed struggle in southeastern Turkey, which killed tens of thousands of people.

His announcement came months after Devlet Bahli, the leader of the MHP ultranationalist party of Turkey and an ally of the Turkish government, has begun an initiative to end the conflict.

Pazalan – gently called APA by Kurdish nationalists – met with MPs from the Procurd Party this week of IMRALS, an island in the sea of ​​Marmara, southwest of Istanbul, where he is in prison.

“In order to pave the way to apply the call of the APO leader for peace and a democratic society, we announce today to end its fire,” said the PKK Executive Committee in a statement on Saturday, quoted by Pro-PKK ANF news agency.

“None of our forces will take armed actions unless they are attacked,” she added.

PKK – which means the Kurdistan workers’ party – stated that the conditions of Okalan’s prison must be relieved, adding that he “must be able to live and work in physical freedom and be able to establish unobstructed relationships with anyone he wants, including his friends.”

The group has set up a 1984 rebellion in order to extract a homeland for Kurds, representing about 20% of 85 million people in Turkey. It is banned as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, the United Kingdom and the US.

Calling for disarmament, Okalan had appealed the members of the PKK in a letter Read from the members of DEM Party Ahmet Turk and Pervin Buldan in both Kurdish and Turkish.

He said that “all groups should put their hands and PKK should be dissolved”, adding that its movement was formed mainly because “the channels of democratic policy are closed.”

However, Bahli, backed by positive signals by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other political parties, created the right environment for PKK to put his weapons, added Okalan.

Kurdish leaders largely welcomed development. Local reports have said thousands of people gathered to watch the statement of the big screens in the cities of Diyarbakir and Van in mainly the Kurdish southeast.

However, there are significant questions, both among the Kurdish and the Turkish public about what the next steps may be – and not all were convinced that things would change.

Last week, Senior PKK Commander Duran Kalan said the ruling party of Turkey, PSP, did not seek a solution, but to “take, destroy and destroy.”

The Turkish forces paid by Turkish forces in northeastern Syria strengthened their campaign against Kurdish forces and last month called on new leaders of Syria to eliminate the Kurdish Syrian democratic forces.

In recent years, politicians have been directed to a wave of arrests and sentences in prison.

About 40,000 people have been killed since the beginning of PKK rebels.

There was a jump in violence in the southeastern part of Turkey from 2015 to 2017, when the cessation of the fire at two and a half fell apart.

Most recently, in October, the PKK claimed an attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industry Headquarters (TAI) near Ankara, which left five people killed.