Kurdish Rebel Leader Abdullah Öcalan Declares Ceasefire After 40 Years of Conflict, New Peace Talks in Turkey

Kurdish Rebel Leader Abdullah Öcalan Declares Ceasefire After 40 Years of Conflict, New Peace Talks in Turkey

Imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan has called for the dissolution of his Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and declared a ceasefire with Turkey. This marks the PKK's first response since Öcalan this week urged his organization to lay down arms and end the armed struggle.

"In order to implement Leader Apo's call for peace and a democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today," the PKK's executive committee said in a statement quoted by the pro-PKK ANF news agency.

"We agree with the content of the call and are committed to following and implementing it," the committee added.

The PKK, designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has waged an insurgency since 1984 against the Turkish state. Their main goal has been to establish an independent homeland for Kurds, who make up about 20% of Turkey's population.

Since Öcalan was imprisoned in 1999, there have been several attempts for peace talks, but none were successful. After the collapse of the last round of peace talks in 2015, no communication took place until October when a nationalist ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unexpectedly offered a peace proposal if Öcalan renounced violence.

While Erdoğan supported this rapprochement, his government started increasing pressure on the opposition, arresting political leaders, activists, and journalists.

After multiple meetings with Öcalan at his island prison, the pro-Kurdish DEM party on Thursday called for a congress to announce the PKK's dissolution and for them to lay down their weapons.