\n
![](\"https:\/\/en.hamsonews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/5402595.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
On Thursday, February 27, 2025, Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned founder of the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK), called in a statement on the group\u2019s members to disband and lay down their arms.<\/p>\n
He made it clear that he would take on the historic responsibility for this call. The Turkish Kurdish leader\u2019s order to end any violent struggle and move towards the realization of the political and cultural rights of the Kurdish people has provided the necessary ground for reducing some of Ankara\u2019s security concerns and state investment in southeastern Turkey. At least 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict between Turkey and the PKK over the past four decades, and it seems that continuing this trend would have exhausted the capabilities of the aforementioned actors.<\/p>\n
Ocalan\u2019s statement will directly and indirectly affect not only the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq, but also Kurdish groups based in Syria and those in the shared border between Iran, Turkey and Iraq.<\/p>\n
Why did Ocalan decide to disband the PKK<\/strong>?<\/p>\n In the midst of the geostrategic rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, \u00d6calan seized the opportunity to use the bipolar order international system. He thought he could gain Moscow’s support and could lay the ground for the division of one of the NATO members, namely Turkey. Accordingly, many Kurdish groups in the 60s, 70s and 80s decided to turn to armed struggle instead of pursuing their natural rights through democratic institutions active in civil society and become security subjects of central governments.<\/p>\n Now, it seems that after years of armed struggle and considering the changes in the international and regional order, Ocalan has seen any continuation of tension with Ankara as detrimental to the existence of the “PKK” and has decided to lay the conditions for the survival of this group through political-civil struggle. Of course, another group believes that in the last years of his life he is trying to leave a legacy of “peace” and be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize!<\/p>\n What impact will Ocalan\u2019 call for disarmament and disintegration have on the other armed Kurdish groups?<\/strong><\/p>\n The leader of the PKK in Turkey has been in prison since 1999. Accepting a kind of ceasefire between \u00d6calan and the neo-Ottoman leader of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in prion indicates a big gamble. Experience shows that the Turkish president, although he is a man of deals, can never be trusted for a long-term agreement at historical junctures.<\/p>\n However, the statement issued by this political leader indicates a change in the policy governing the PKK group and a change in its direction in the near future. It should not be forgotten that despite \u00d6calan’s high position among the middle leaders and supporters of the Kurdish groups, not all of them trust \u00d6calan and even prefer to choose a different path from him.<\/p>\n The division between various Kurdish leaders and \u00d6calan or their avoidance of obeying the opinions of a imprisoned leader is clearly visible.<\/p>\n For example, Mazloum Kobani (Abdi), the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria received \u00d6calan’s message as “positive”, but did not consider the statement to include the dissolution of the YPG and the laying down of arms by the Syrian Kurdish groups.<\/p>\n The SDF leader believes that the implementation of \u00d6calan’s statement will eliminate the excuse for the Turks to attack eastern Syria. Although the PJAK terrorist group has not issued an official statement on this matter, \u00d6calan’s call will cause a kind of split in the ranks of this separatist group too.<\/p>\n Different countries, including Iran, Iraq, and Germany welcomed PKK\u2019s leader\u2019s call for dissolution.<\/p>\n All in all, the imprisoned Ocalan’s recent call for the PKK disarmament came after 40 years of futile armed struggle by the armed group and its playing in the courts of the foreign powers beyond the region.<\/p>\n MNA\/6394675<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n