Parents of fighters embrace peace as PKK burns weapons

DUKAN, Kurdistan Region - Gulbahar Ersoy* sat quietly in the crowd gathered outside a hotel in Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province where dozens of politicians, activists, and journalists had assembled to witness a historic event - the first group of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters laying down their arms. The temperature hovered around 45 degrees Celsius, but Ersoy’s mind was elsewhere: on her son, who had spent years in the mountains as a fighter. 

“We just want peace,” she said.

Thirty PKK fighters, including several commanders, burned their weapons during a historic ceremony at the entrance of Jasana Cave, located approximately 50 kilometers northwest of Sulaimani city. The event was attended by many parents and relatives of PKK fighters who are still in the mountains. 

Ahead of the ceremony, near Ashur Hotel in Dukan district, journalists rushed to the mothers of PKK fighters. The words “peace” and “hope” dominated their remarks. 

Ersoy was one of them. She had arrived in the Kurdistan Region just a day earlier, crossing the border at Ibrahim Khalil on Thursday, and was exhausted.

“All we want is peace and we hope that it prevails,” the Kurdish mother said. She had not seen her son for many years. 

The future of thousands of PKK fighters who have waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state remains uncertain. While an amnesty is not out of the question, no official plan has been announced. Still, Ersoy said that her hope goes beyond her son's freedom - she wants peace for everyone in Turkey.

The PKK was formed by Abdullah Ocalan in 1978 and the party launched an armed struggle against Ankara several years later. More than 40 years of war have claimed the lives of at least 40,000 people, including civilians.

On February 27, Ocalan made a historic appeal to his followers from jail, urging them to dissolve the PKK and abandon armed struggle in favor of politics. The group formally endorsed the shift during a party congress in May. Ocalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999, released his first video message on Wednesday, in which he reiterated his determination to end the armed struggle.  

Friday’s ceremony was largely symbolic, intended to help pave the way for the next phase of the peace process amid Turkish government demands for tangible actions from the PKK. Now, the group is looking to Ankara for a reciprocal response. Chief among its demands is the release of Ocalan.

"If Turkey takes concrete steps, enacts laws and implements radical legal reforms… we will go to Turkey and engage in politics. If there is no legal constitutional arrangements, we will either end up in prison or being killed,” Bese Hozat, co-chair of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group that includes the PKK, told AFP.

Hozat, whose real name is Hulya Oran, was born in Turkey’s Dersim in the same year the PKK was founded. In 1994, she joined the PKK and was elected co-chair of the KCK in 2013. Soon after Hozat assumed the new role, her mother made a public call on her daughter to bring peace. 
 
“I have not seen my daughter for 19 to 20 years. I have been burning with longing for her for years. I long for her. She is my one and only. She is my source of joy. If this peace comes and I'm reunited with my daughter, I will sacrifice seven animals. I have promised this for years,” the then-80-year-old Geyik Oran told Turkish media. 

Hozat was one of those who gave up her weapon on Friday.

Hatice Ezer is another Kurdish mother. She came from Diyarbakir (Amed). 

“We have come for peace and justice,” she told Rudaw. “We want Kurds and Turks to be like siblings. No more bloodshed, no more tears from mothers’ eyes.”

She said that their group did not stop to rest while traveling from Diyarbakir to the Kurdistan Region because of their eagerness to see peace. 

A Yazidi mother also came to Dukan to attend the ceremony. She told Rudaw that one of her sons is a PKK fighter. 

“I have not seen him for six years. I want him to return home,” An’am Batkal said, asking for a guarantee that her son will be free when he lays down arms. “Bloodshed cannot resolve any issue, only peace does.” 

The disarmament process was welcomed by Turkish and Kurdish officials and politicians. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it an “important step” in the ongoing peace talks with the PKK.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), the main mediator of the talks, held new meetings with Turkish officials and politicians, including Erdogan, days before the Friday ceremony. The DEM Party has stepped up efforts to create a legal framework for the peace talks by taking it to the parliament. A commission is expected to be formed from the main parties in the legislature. Most lawmakers seem to endorse the initiative.

Issa Guzel is an elderly Kurdish man. He came to Sulaimani from Diyarbakir. He echoed the peaceful calls of Kurdish mothers sitting only a few meters away from him. 

Guzel told Rudaw that one of his brothers had been killed after joining the PKK and one of his nephews, who also joined the group, remains unaccounted for. 

“I have come here for peace,” he said. “This process means a lot for us, especially for the families of the martyrs.”


*Gulbahar Ersoy is not her real name, which has been withheld at her request. 

Peshawa Bakhtiyar contributed to this article.