IRBIL, Iraq — A Kurdish militant group that has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey introduced Thursday its fighters in northern Iraq will start handing over their weapons, marking the primary concrete step towards disarmament as a part of a peace course of.
The Kurdistan Staff’ Social gathering, or PKK, announced in Could it will disband and resign armed battle, ending 4 a long time of hostilities. The transfer got here after PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island close to Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm.
Ocalan, 76, continues to wield vital affect within the Kurdish motion regardless of his 25-year imprisonment. His name to finish the combating marked a pivotal step towards ending the decades-long battle that has claimed tens of hundreds of lives because the Nineteen Eighties.
Within the gala improvement, “a bunch of guerrilla fighters will come down from the mountains and can bid farewell to their arms in an effort to declare their good will for peace and democratic politics,” the PKK stated in a press release Thursday.
The ceremony, which is anticipated to happen between July 10 and July 12 within the metropolis of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish area, would be the first concrete transfer towards disarmament.
Zagros Hiwa, a PKK spokesperson, stated the fighters will destroy their weapons “below the supervision of civil society establishments and events.” The variety of fighters who will participate has not but been decided however could be between 20 and 30, he stated.
For the PKK to take additional steps towards disarmament, he stated “the regime of isolation” imposed on Öcalan in jail “needs to be abolished” and “constitutional, authorized and political” have to be taken to “be certain that the guerrilla who’ve deserted the technique of armed battle may very well be reintegrated into democratic politics in Turkey.”
An Iraqi Kurdish official, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not licensed to talk publicly, stated the PKK members are anticipated handy over their gentle weapons to the regional authorities.
The regional authorities is dominated by two events, the Kurdistan Democratic Social gathering and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, with the KDP overseeing the regional capital, Irbil, and the town of Dohuk. The PUK governs Sulaymaniyah.
The KDP has good relations with Turkey and has been at odds with the PKK, whereas the PUK is nearer to the PKK.
In Turkey on Monday, Omer Celik, a spokesperson for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Improvement Social gathering, or AKP, stated the PKK might start handing over arms “inside days,” however didn’t present particulars. Celik added that Erdogan would meet with members of the pro-Kurdish social gathering subsequent week to debate the peace effort.
There was no fast assertion from Turkey’s authorities on Thursday’s announcement.
The PKK has lengthy maintained bases within the mountains of northern Iraq. Turkish forces have launched offensives and airstrikes towards the PKK in Iraq and have arrange bases within the space. Scores of villages have emptied consequently.
The Iraqi authorities in Baghdad final 12 months introduced an official ban on the separatist group, which has lengthy been prohibited in Turkey.
___
Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad. Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.