Dissolution of the PKK

Despite the final decision of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to lay down their weapons and to disband, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) sees no willingness on the part of Turkey to engage in serious peace negotiations with the Kurds.

“After nearly half a century, the story of the PKK is now coming to an end. This historic step only came about because PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan – who has been imprisoned in Turkey since 1999 – demanded it. It is not to be expected that the Turkish state will now end its persecution of the Kurds and take concrete steps to resolve the Kurdish question,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, the human rights organization’s Middle East consultant. Important steps toward a peaceful solution could be the recognition of regional autonomy for the Kurds in Turkey, the recognition of Kurdish as a national language, and the release of all Kurdish political prisoners – including Abdullah Öcalan.

“If Turkey and its NATO partners were interested in a peaceful solution to the conflict with the Kurds, they could have quickly taken specific measures in this direction – but it does not look as if there will be serious peace negotiations soon,” the Middle East expert assumed. “Thus, the democratic public, the Turkish parliament, and the other NATO countries must put pressure on the Turkish government to resolve the conflict in and around Kurdistan by recognizing the rights of the Kurds,” Sido demanded.

“Turkey must immediately withdraw all occupying troops from northern Iraq and northern Syria. There are at least 25 Turkish military bases in the Syrian-Kurdish region of Afrin, which was illegally occupied by Turkey in 2018. The Turkish army must immediately withdraw from the Kurdish areas outside Turkey and stop all attacks on Kurdish targets,” the Middle East expert demanded. “The Kurds, including the PKK, will not be able to achieve peace unilaterally. Turkey and its NATO partners will have to work towards peace as well.”

Now, the Kurds and other ethnic and religious minorities are concerned that they will increasingly be targeted by Islamist militias supported by Turkey (which are not only active in Turkey and Syria, but also in other countries) because the PKK and other Kurdish organizations played a crucial role in defeating the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) and other Islamist organizations.