The proscribed Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK), the Kurdish guerrillas of Turkey, announced this Saturday a complete fire, as well as a future disarmament under the direction of its founder and leader, Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned in Turkey.
On Thursday, in a historical call, Öcalan demanded what could end a conflict that has been extended for more than 40 years and has caused more than 40,000 dead. “Call a congress and make the decision; All groups [armados dependientes del PKK] They must leave weapons and the PKK must dissolve, ”Öcalan wrote in a message.
The group has said in a statement that they expect Ankara to release Öcalan, retained in almost total isolation since 1999, so that he can lead a disarmament process, and adds that the necessary political and democratic conditions must be established so that the process is successful. “We, as PKK, completely agree with the content of the call and declare that, from our forehead, we will meet the needs of the call and implement it,” the group announced.
The PKK ensures that issues such as the deposition of weapons “can only be carried out under the practical leadership of Öcalan. The Turkish government has said that it will not negotiate with the PKK and that all Kurdish militias, including those of Iraq and Syria, must depose weapons. Although Öcalan’s call has been hosted as positive, Syrian democratic forces (FDS), United States allies and that Ankara considers an extension of the PKK, have said that it does not apply to them.
Ankara has repeatedly asked the armed arm of the FDS that is disarmed since the fall of President Sirio Bashar al-Assad last year, warning that otherwise he would face military action. The call of Öcalan, motivated by a surprise proposal in October of an ultra -nationalist ally of Erdogan, has been welcomed with satisfaction by the United States, the European Union and other Western allies, as well as by the residents of Turkey, Iraq and Iran.
