Politics PKK announces ceasefire with Turkey
The banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) has announced a ceasefire with Turkey. According to the PKK's affiliated news agency ANF, the ceasefire is valid from today. "As long as there are no attacks on us, our forces will not carry out any armed actions."
01.03.2025, 20:15
SDA
The PKK is thus responding to a call by its founder Abdullah Öcalan. The leader, who has been imprisoned for years, called on the PKK on Thursday to lay down its arms and disband. However, the PKK attached conditions to full implementation. For the successful implementation of the call, Öcalan must be "enabled to live and work under free conditions".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the PKK that the country would not tolerate any "delaying tactics". If the group is not completely disarmed, the operations against it will continue "until the last terrorist is neutralized", Erdogan said.
The PKK has been fighting for a Kurdish state or autonomous region in south-eastern Turkey since the 1980s, using armed violence and attacks. According to its own statements, the PKK has since backed away from its demand for an independent state. It has its headquarters in the Kandil Mountains in Iraq. Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict so far. Öcalan (75) has been imprisoned on the prison island of Imrali since 1999.
A ceasefire was last declared in 2013, but the peace process failed in the summer of 2015. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the EU and the USA.
