Kurdish PKK to withdraw its fighters from Turkiye to Iraq

ANKARA(Turkiye): The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has announced withdrawal of all its forces from Turkiye to northern Iraq as part of the peace process, bringing an end to a months-long disarmament process, Al Jazeera reported.

“We are implementing the withdrawal of all our forces within Turkiye,” the Kurdish PKK said in a statement read out on Sunday in the Qandil area of northern Iraq, according to an AFP journalist present there.

The PKK also released a picture showing 25 fighters – among them eight women – who had already travelled there from Turkiye.

A spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party posted on X that the PKK’s announcement falls within the framework of the “Terrorism-Free Turkiye process.”

The PKK, which formally renounced its 40-year armed struggle in May, is currently making the transition from armed rebellion to democratic politics in a bid to end one of the region’s longest conflicts, which killed some 50,000 people, as per Reuters.

The PKK, however, urged Turkiye to take necessary steps to bring forward the process, which began a year ago. The group has said it wants to pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Ocalan.

In July, the group held a symbolic ceremony in the mountains of northern Iraq, at which it destroyed a first batch of weapons, which was hailed by Turkiye as “an irreversible turning point”. (ANI)