The PKK’s Decision to Disband May Offer a Historic Chance at Peace

The Kurds finally give in to Erdoğan

All wars end, one way or another. One of the longest wars in the Middle East, between Turkey and Kurdish separatists, may finally be over. After 40 years of bitter struggle, the Kurdistan Workers’ party, the PKK, has declared that it will disarm and disband. It’s an achievement, of a sort, for the PKK’s imprisoned founder, Abdullah Ocalan: he might become a free man. It’s a triumph for Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: he might become presid…

PKK decides to dissolve for a "new beginning"

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK) held its 12th Extraordinary Congress between 5 and 7 May 2025, in the Medya Defense Areas, in response to Abdullah Öcalan’s 'Call for ...

The PKK’s Decision to Disband May Offer a Historic Chance at Peace

More than forty years after it formed with the goal of creating an independent Kurdish state, the PKK has said it will stop its armed struggle against Türkiye. How Ankara responds will help determine whether one of the world’s longest-running conflicts comes to a close.

PKK Dissolution and Turkey's Kurdish Question

The long and bloody saga of PKK has seemingly reached a pivotal juncture with the organization's long-anticipated announcement of its dissolution

Kurdish separatist group lays down its arms

A bloody, decades-long conflict in Turkey could soon be coming to an end.

The decision by the Kurdistan Workers' Party to dissolve itself and end its armed activity, announced on 12 May, was widely welcomed by both the Kurds and Turkey (although with exceptions) as well as the international community.