The Kurdish guerrilla group that has been preventing a long-running insurgency in opposition to Turkey declared a cease-fire on Saturday, days after a name from its jailed chief to disarm and disband the group raised hopes of ending a battle that has killed tens of 1000’s of individuals over 4 many years.
The Kurdistan Employees’ Celebration, or P.Okay.Okay., mentioned the cease-fire would start instantly. But it surely additionally referred to as for Abdullah Ocalan, the P.Okay.Okay.’s founder and chief who has been in a Turkish jail for a quarter-century, to be freed so he can oversee the group’s dissolution.
If the P.Okay.Okay. does disband, it might resolve a significant home safety risk and mark a political victory for Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. If negotiations proceed with Mr. Ocalan, it may usher in a brand new period of peace throughout the area the place Kurds have pursued an armed wrestle in a mountainous space that intersects components of Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
However there are nonetheless many unanswered questions.
“That is simply the primary sentence,” Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow on the Brookings Establishment, mentioned of Mr. Ocalan’s name to all teams to disarm.
It isn’t clear whether or not Turkey will stop armed operations in opposition to the P.Okay.Okay., who would monitor any truce or what would occur to fighters who do lay down their arms. There may be additionally the query of whether or not the federal government has provided the Kurdish fighters something in return.
However a cease-fire would permit Kurds to start out inside consultations and maintain native congresses to forge a democratic manner ahead, one thing Kurds in Turkey and Syria have mentioned they wish to do.
The P.Okay.Okay. announcement got here two days after Mr. Ocalan said that the group had outlived its life-span and will dissolve itself, a uncommon message from a frontrunner with broad affect over Kurdish fighters in Turkey, but additionally across the area, together with in Syria and Iraq.
The P.Okay.Okay. assertion, carried by Firat Information Company, a P.Okay.Okay.-linked information website, mentioned “none of our forces will take armed motion except attacked.”
In recent times, Turkey’s navy has degraded the P.Okay.Okay.’s preventing skills, which analysts say could have contributed to its willingness to debate an finish to its struggle.
Fighters of the P.Okay.Okay. revere their chief, Mr. Ocalan, and are anticipated to heed his name, however the group’s conditional assertion suggests it can proceed to make use of its leverage within the bargaining course of.
“For some of these organizations, cease-fires are a way to purchase time, overcome navy setbacks and easy over cracks amongst members,” mentioned Oytun Orhan, an analyst on the Heart for Center Jap Research based mostly within the Turkish capital, Ankara.
The Turkish authorities didn’t instantly touch upon the P.Okay.Okay. assertion or on the group’s name for Mr. Ocalan to be launched.
However on Friday, Mr. Erdogan welcomed the attraction by Mr. Ocalan, which got here after a collection of talks that included Turkish officers; Mr. Ocalan himself; and members of Turkey’s essential pro-Kurdish social gathering, the Folks’s Equality and Democracy Celebration, or D.E.M.
“We now have a historic alternative to take a step towards demolishing the wall of terror” between Turks and Kurds, he mentioned. He added that Turkish officers would comply with up on working to finish the battle, with out elaborating on what that will entail.
Mr. Erdogan mentioned in January that the federal government had provided the P.Okay.Okay. no concessions.
The P.Okay.Okay. started as a secessionist group that sought to create an impartial state for Turkey’s Kurdish minority, however extra not too long ago it has mentioned it was looking for larger rights for Kurds inside Turkey.
Turkey, the USA and different international locations classify Mr. Ocalan as a terrorist and the P.Okay.Okay. as terror group for its assaults which have killed Turkish safety forces and civilians. Many Turks see Mr. Ocalan, who was convicted in 1999 of main an armed terrorist group, as one of many nation’s largest enemies.
Turkey and the P.Okay.Okay. have tried over time to resolve the battle, most not too long ago by peace talks that began in 2011. Negotiations broke down in 2015, ushering in a lethal new section.
However final October, a robust political ally of Mr. Erdogan made a surprising public call to Mr. Ocalan, asking him to inform his fighters to put down their arms and finish the battle. Doing so, the politician mentioned, may open a pathway for his life sentence to be ended.
