Analysts, officials weigh in on PKK dissolution, aftermath

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Analysts and officials from across the region welcomed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s decision to dissolve and end its armed struggle, calling for coordinated steps between Turkey, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region during a Monday discussion to ensure disarmament and pave the way for a peaceful political process.

The PKK announced its dissolution and the end of its armed struggle against the Turkish state on Monday, marking what it described as a step toward a peaceful resolution to the decades-long conflict with Ankara that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

The announcement followed a party congress held from May 5 to 7 to consider the late February call from jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to disarm, dissolve, and pursue a political struggle.

"The PKK is a solid movement and it will adhere to the decisions it has made at the congress and will dissolve itself,” Khalil Ataj, a former PKK leadership member who was close to Ocalan, said during a discussion hosted by Rudaw’s Ranj Sangawi and Dilbixwin Dara.

He noted that while the PKK’s statement calls for ending the war and dissolving the organization, it does not mention laying down arms explicitly but instead signals the beginning of a new phase of democratic political struggle.

In its statement, the congress declared that the PKK had “completed its historical mission” by “breaking the policy of denial and annihilation on our people and bringing the Kurdish issue to a point of solving it through democratic politics.”

The PKK was founded in 1978 in response to the oppression of the Kurdish population in Turkey. It initially struggled for an independent Kurdistan but now calls for greater political and cultural rights within Turkey. Ankara and its Western allies consider the group a terrorist organization.

Analysis

Cengiz Candar, a veteran Turkish journalist and member of parliament from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), argued that the PKK has complied with Ocalan’s message and that Ankara must now take reciprocal steps toward peace, including releasing prisoners incarcerated for alleged links to the PKK.

“One of these steps is to free all prisoners incarcerated for alleged connections to the PKK,” Candar said.

He stressed that if the Turkish government wants to complete the process of dissolving the PKK and establish democracy in Turkey, it must "immediately release Selahattin Demirtas."

Jailed prominent Kurdish politician Demirtas on Monday thanked the PKK leadership for heeding its leader Ocalan’s call to disband and disarm. A charismatic politician, Demirtas played a role in a similar but collapsed peace talks in 2013, and has been jailed since 2016 on PKK-linked charges.

Oytun Orhan, a researcher at the Middle East desk of the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Studies (ORSAM), warned that “even if the organization [PKK] lays down its arms, some dissenting voices within the organization may want to break away and continue the armed struggle under different names and structures.”

"It is possible that some countries in the region do not want the organization to be completely destroyed and may try to use the PKK against Turkey, which creates obstacles for the process,” Orhan emphasized, stressing the importance of coordination between Ankara, Baghdad, and Erbil on the process and the future of the PKK members. “The Turkish government has plans for this,” he said.

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler had stated in April that Turkey had three conditions for the PKK: the group must dissolve, surrender its weapons, and fighters must surrender themselves, noting that PKK fighters would later be informed of the designated location where they should lay down their arms.

Orhan believes that PKK members who have not committed grave crimes can be allowed to reconcile and return to normal life in Turkey.

"Those members who have blood on their hands and have committed crimes do not have the opportunity to return to Turkey, they could be sent to third countries. But those who have not committed crimes can be given the opportunity to return to social life,” he said.

Ziryan Rojhelati, director of the Rudaw Research Center, argued that “what the PKK has done in the past 20 years has brought nothing but harm to the Kurds.” He praised the dissolution decision, calling it “entirely correct and wise,” saying that it may eventually help lift the terrorist label attached to the Kurdish issue in Turkey and its Kurdish areas.

Meanwhile, a former Kurdish Peshmerga official said that Ankara and the PKK have understood that fighting will not yield results.

"Turkey and the PKK have come to understand that they cannot achieve any results with weapons, and they must start a peace process,” Jabar Yawar, former secretary-general of the Peshmerga ministry, said during the debate.
Yawar also called for coordination between Ankara, Baghdad, and Erbil regarding the procedures of dissolution and disarmament.

Omer Ileri, a senior member of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and lawmaker for Diyarbakir (Amed), also welcomed the dissolution. “No demands were discussed, and the decision to dissolve was unconditional,” Ileri said.

Regarding the fate of the PKK fighters and commanders after the dissolution, Ileri said that, "I am saying this on my own behalf; they may be sent to third countries, or another option may be presented to them".

Effect on Syria

Turkey regards the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northeast Syria (Rojava) - the backbone of the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - as the Syrian front for the PKK, a claim repeatedly denied by the YPG.

It has also launched three major military operations against the YPG since 2016, seizing vast swathes of territory in northern Syria, such as the Kurdish city of Afrin and the towns of Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad).

According to Orhan, Turkey considers the decision “to include not only the PKK, but also all of its extensions, especially in Syria.”

The DEM Party’s Candar, however, asserted that Ocalan’s February 27 call specifically addressed the PKK and did not refer to the YPG.

"In the call of February 27, the name of the YPG was not mentioned, and in none of his messages did he say that the YPG should convene a conference and dissolve itself. The appeal is only for the PKK,” Candar said.

Turkey has maintained that the dissolution of the PKK should also extend to its affiliates, particularly in Syria. In March, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and initiator of the latest peace talks, said Ocalan’s call applied to the People’s Protection Units (YPG) as well.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned in January that the YPG would face a “bitter fate” if it refused to disband.

Turkey is fearful that the increased strength of Kurdish groups in northern Syria could embolden Kurdish movements within its borders

In March, Erdogan welcomed a deal between Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi, aimed at integrating the SDF into Syria’s state institutions. The deal resulted in a prisoner swap and a joint security arrangement for Kurdish-majority neighborhoods in Aleppo previously controlled by the YPG.