PKK announces full withdrawal from Turkey to Northern Iraq
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The PKK begins pulling fighters from Turkey to northern Iraq, urging Ankara to enact legal reforms to secure the fragile peace process and political transition.
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Forces of the regional Kurdish administration secure the area of the Jasana Cave ahead of a symbolic disarmament ceremony by the separatist PKK group as part of the peace process with Turkey, in Sulaymaniyah governorate, Iraq, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP)
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced on Sunday that it has begun withdrawing all of its forces from Turkish territory to northern Iraq, calling on Ankara to take concrete legal measures to safeguard the ongoing peace process.
“We are implementing the withdrawal of all our forces within Turkey,” the group said in a statement read out during a ceremony in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq, according to an AFP journalist who attended the event.
The PKK also released a photo showing 25 fighters, including eight women, who had already crossed from Turkey into Iraq.
The PKK, which formally ended its four-decade armed struggle in May, is shifting from military operations to democratic political participation in an effort to close one of the longest-running conflicts in the region, a war that has claimed an estimated 50,000 lives.
However, the group urged the Turkish government to take further action to sustain the peace process, which began a year ago when Ankara extended an unexpected olive branch to its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
“The legal and political steps required by the process (...) and the laws of freedom and democratic integration necessary to participate in democratic politics must be put in place without delay,” the PKK said.
A symbolic turning point
The organization has reiterated its commitment to pursuing a peaceful, democratic struggle for Kurdish rights, following what it described as a “historic call” by Ocalan.
In July, the PKK held a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq’s mountains, where members destroyed an initial cache of weapons, a gesture hailed by Turkish officials as “an irreversible turning point” in efforts to end decades of conflict.
The ceremony was held today at an unspecified location near the city of Sulaymaniyah in northeastern Iraq, with attendance including members of the Equality and Peoples' Democracy Party, Turkey's third-largest political bloc, along with several journalists covering the event.
PKK officially disbands
Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan announced the formal cessation of the banned group's armed campaign against Turkey on July 9, in a video message that constituted his first appearance since he was imprisoned in 1999.
In a June-recorded message published Wednesday by Firat News Agency, Ocalan urged Turkey's parliament to establish a monitoring committee for voluntary disarmament and initiate comprehensive peace efforts.
Ocalan declared that the PKK has abandoned its separatist objectives and national liberation doctrine, asserting that with Kurdish identity now recognized in Turkey, the group's founding purpose has been achieved, making its armed struggle unnecessary.
The jailed leader of the PKK demanded that weapons be publicly handed over to official authorities to ensure transparency and demonstrate commitment to peace, while stressing the need for a legally recognized disarmament process supervised by parliament.
Turkey and the PKK came to an agreement aimed at ending the decades-long armed conflict and transitioning the group entirely into legal political activity, after reaching a ceasefire in March.
