Terrorist Group’s Pledge to Disarm Met With Cautious Optimism in Turkey

The PKK appears to have signaled a readiness to lay down its arms after four decades of violent insurgency against the Turkish state.

A youth holds a flag with the image of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, (PKK), in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 21, 2018. Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

An apparent decision by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to end its decades-long armed insurgency against Turkey could—if implemented—have far-reaching effects for the region, Turkish experts say.

“For the first time, the leader of the PKK has called on the group to renounce its longstanding demand for [Kurdish] autonomy in the region,” Oytun Orhan, a Turkish Middle East analyst, told The Epoch Times.