PKK to Begin Disarmament Process in Iraqi Kurdistan

Terror-stamped Kurdish PKK is to begin laying down their arms at a disarmament ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan in early July, reports the Kurdish media group Rudaw.

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PKK to Begin Disarmament Process in Iraqi Kurdistan
Photo: Metin Yoksu/AP/TT

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The announcement comes six weeks after the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, announced that it would end the armed struggle against the Turkish state, which has raged for over 40 years and claimed around 45,000 lives.

The Kurdish minority in Turkey hopes that the PKK's decision will pave the way for a political settlement with Ankara that means a new openness towards the Kurds, who make up around 20 percent of Turkey's 85 million inhabitants.

According to two sources in Iraqi Kurdistan, cited by Rudaw, the ceremony will take place in Sulaimaniya, which is the region's second-largest city.

"Between July 3 and 10, a group of PKK members, probably between 20 and 30, will lay down their arms," according to Rudaw.

Most of the PKK's fighters have spent the last decade in the mountains of northern Iraq, where Turkey has often carried out operations against the PKK.

The founder of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned in Turkey for over 25 years, urged the movement in February this year to lay down its arms and dissolve. According to the sources, Öcalan is expected to come up with a new message about the dissolution process and after that, the disarmament process will begin, according to the sources.

So far, few details about how the dissolution will take place have been known, but the Turkish government has said that it will carefully monitor the process to ensure that it is carried out fully.

Fact: PKK

TT

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was founded in 1978 as a Marxist party.

The movement's goal was a Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey and adjacent parts of neighboring countries. The Kurds account for around 20 percent of Turkey's 85 million inhabitants.

In 1984, the PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in the struggle for independence.

The PKK is labeled as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU, and the USA.

Turkey has, among other things, put forward demands for tougher measures against the PKK in Sweden in order for them to approve Sweden's NATO membership.

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

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