Skepticism and cautious hope as PKK takes a historical step to dissolve

After 40 years, with 40,000 people, killed and without securing a Kurdish homeland, the ban on the Kurdistan Party, PKK, ended its war against the Turkish state.

This signals the end of one of the most long conflicts in the world – a historic moment for Turkey, its Kurdish minority and neighboring countries in which the conflict has spilled.

A spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party said this was an important step towards a terror -free country.

But what will PKK get to disarm and dissolve? So far, the government has not made promises – at least publicly.

The shelter in a hailstorm tea shop that knocked the ancient city of Diyabakir, the 65 -year -old Nekmet Bilmes, was skeptical of what could follow.

“They (the government) have been eating us for thousands of years,” he said.

“When I get an ID card in my pocket, saying I am Kurdish, I will believe that everything will be resolved. Otherwise I do not believe it.”

Sitting nearby on a small woven chair, Mehmet, Ek, 80, there was a different view.

“It came late,” he said.

“I wish it happened ten years ago. But still, any of any country that will stop this bloodshed, I congratulate them,” he said, pointing the top of his flat hat.

“This conflict is a brother’s brother. The one who dies in the mountain (PKK) is ours, and the soldier (from the government) is ours.

“We all lose, Turks and Kurds.”

He wants amnesty for PKK fighters – like many here – the release of closed Kurdish politicians.

“If all this happens, it will be a beautiful peace,” he said.

In this majority of Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey – the factual Kurdish capital – we found a muted response to the PKK message.

The city is marked and changed by the conflict.

Turkish forces and PKK fought in the heart of Diyarbakir in 2015. You can still see the ruins of buildings flattened by the Turkish army.

Many locals told us that they had met peace or the idea of ​​it and did not want more deaths – Turkish or Kurdish.

“No one has achieved anything,” says the 63 -year -old Ibrahim Nazlican, drinking tea in the shadow of the rising walls of the city, who have kept Diyarbakir from Roman times.

“There is nothing but a loss on this side and on this side. There are no winners.”

The conflict varies from the mountains of northern Iraq – which have become the headquarters of PKK in recent years – to the largest cities in Turkey.

Outside the Istanbul football stadium in 2016, a PKK branch carried out a double bombing, killing 38 police officers and 8 civilians. Many Kurds and Turks hope this is the end of the dark head that took 40,000 lives

The PKK’s decision lay its weapons followed a call in February by its closed leader Abdullah Okalan, who said “there is no alternative to democracy.”

So far, the 76-year-old remains in his cell in an island prison from Istanbul, where he has been held since 1999.

For his supporters, he remains a heroic figure who has put his cause on a global agenda. They want him to be released.

The 47 -year -old menis is among them. She insisted that his release is the key to a new dawn for the Kurds, which represents up to 20% of the Turkish population.

“We want peace, but if our leader is not free, we will never be free,” she said.

“If he is free, we will all be free and the Kurdish problem will be solved.”

It is surrounded by family photos of loved ones who have died, fighting for PKK – which is classified as a terrorist organization from Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU.

She has lost five relatives, including her brother and her oldest son Zindan.

He joined the PKK at 17 and was dead at 25, killed in Turkish air strike three years ago.

Mennis’s eyes are filled with tears as she tells us how he helped her with his housework.

His path may have been outlined from birth.

“We called him Zindan (which means a cell) because his father was in prison when he was born,” she told us.

A big photo hangs on the wall, shows Zindan with his brother Berksvendan, who followed his footsteps “up to the mountain” to PKK when he reached the age of 17.

Berksvent is already 23 years old. His mother did not know if he was alive or dead until he sent a picture of himself to his family during Ramadan in March.

Menis hopes her surviving son will return.

“I hope Berxvendan and his friends will go home. As a mother, I want peace. Let no killings. Were there not enough suffering for everyone?”

But does she believe there may be peace between Turkey and the Kurds?

“I believe in us, in the Okalan and our nation (the Kurds),” she said firmly.

“The enemy (Turkish authorities) forced us not to believe in them.”

However, Procurus political parties have a well -known leverage.

Erdogan needs their support to allow him to run for a third term as president of election due in 2028.

PKK, for its part, has been hit strongly by the Turkish military in recent years with leaders and fighters pursued in war with drones.

And regional changes in Iran and Syria means that the belligerent group and its affiliates have less freedom to act.

Both sides have their reasons to make a deal now. This may be a reason for hope.