Kurdish militants declare ceasefire in 40-year insurgency in Turkey

Öcalan’s Letter: Between Dismay and the Kurds’ Need to Believe

“The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) should dissolve. I make this call and take historical responsibility,” read the letter from Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish guerrilla, on Thursday, 27 February. The statement was read at a press conference by members of the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM)—Turkey’s pro-Kurdish and progressive political party—and …

Shafaq News/ A security source reported on Tuesday evening that clashes between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Turkish forces have resumed in the Matin Mountains, located in Amadiya district, north of Dohuk. The source told Shafaq News Agency that "the clashes took place in the vicinity of the village of Korhazi, where light and medium weapons were used by both sides." He added that "the helicopters of the Turkish army participated in th…

Is This the End of Turkey’s 40-Year Conflict with the Kurds?

Kurdistan Workers Party, in a major development, declares a ceasefire following a call from its imprisoned founder, Abdullah Ocalan.

PKK leader’s call to disarm fuels hope for end to Kurdish conflict – but peace is not imminent

Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), has called on the group to disarm and dissolve itself. In a letter read out by his political allies in Istanbul, Turkey, on February 27, he wrote: “I take on the historical responsibility for this call … All groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself.” Two days later, the PKK’s executive committee declared a ceasefire to its armed struggl…

Abdulah Ocalan, after many years spent in a Turkish prison, ordered his followers to lay down their weapons.

PKK accepts Öcalan’s call to end armed struggle

The bitter experiences of the past century have proved that a progressive solution to the Kurdish question, which is intertwined with a deepening imperialist war in the Middle East and involves four countries in the region, cannot be found within the capitalist nation-state system.