Aljazeera Source Why has the PKK ended its armed struggle? | Inside Story
28,104 views Jul 12, 2025 #PKK #KurdistanWorkersParty #Turkiye
It’s one of the longest-running conflicts in the Middle East — and it’s about to come to an end. Members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, started laying down their arms at a ceremony in northern Iraq. It comes two months after the group said it would end its armed struggle against Turkiye and shift to democratic politics. Reaction has been mixed — some Kurds think it could pave the way to peace, others argue it’s a concession with no gains. So, how will this process play out in Turkiye — and in the wider region?
Presenter: Adrian Finighan
Guests:
Galip Dalay — Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs
David L Phillips — Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University
Mohammed Salih — Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who specialises in Kurdish affairs
PKK begins disarmament process after 40 years of armed struggle in Turkiye
159,662 views Jul 12, 2025 #PKK #Kurdistan #AbdullahOcalan
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has begun the first steps towards disarmament, closing a chapter on a four-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.
A small ceremony was held on Friday in Sulaimaniyah in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, where 20 to 30 PKK fighters were destroying their weapons rather than surrendering them to any government or authority. The symbolic process was conducted under tight security and is expected to unfold throughout the summer.
Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed was at that disarmament event, while Sinem Koseoglu is in Istanbul with the reaction from the Turkish government. Meanwhile, Yusuf Alabarda, a former Turkish military and NATO officer, says PKK fighters are no longer operating inside Turkiye, and this has made peace possible.
