Erdoğan says PKK laying down of arms ‘imminent,’ hints at new era in Turkey’s Kurdish conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is on the verge of laying down its arms and disbanding, signaling what he called the beginning of a “new era” in Turkey’s long-running Kurdish conflict, the Habertürk news website reported.

Speaking at a meeting with ministers and lawmakers at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters in Ankara on Thursday, Erdoğan said that “all obstacles” to a resolution to the years-long conflict between the PKK and Turkey had been overcome.

“Today or tomorrow, the PKK will disarm and dissolve itself,” Erdoğan said, according to sources present at the meeting. “After that, a new process will begin, a new period for all of us. Politics will have a major role to play.”

The PKK’s expected move to lay down its arms is a result of an ongoing peace talks conducted with its jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, who in a historic statement  in February called on his militant group to end its armed struggle, lay down its arms and dissolve itself.

Erdoğan warned those in attendance that while the development marked a potential turning point, the process must be carefully managed. “There may be those who try to politically exploit this. We must be prepared for that. We are not facing an easy road ahead. But I trust you in this matter,” he said.

If confirmed, such a move by the PKK will mark the most significant step toward ending a four-decade-long conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives since the militant group took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, seeking autonomy for the country’s Kurdish population.

The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. Although Turkey has previously launched peace initiatives, including a ceasefire and negotiations between 2013 and 2015, those efforts collapsed amid renewed violence and political tensions.

Erdoğan’s remarks come at a time of increasing political maneuvering amid an ongoing crackdown on the opposition and shifting regional dynamics, including Turkey’s efforts to normalize relations with neighbors and reassert its influence in the Middle East, particularly in Syria.

The peace talks were initiated by a surprise call from Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and an ally of Erdoğan, when he offered Öcalan an unexpected peace gesture in October if he would reject violence, in a move endorsed by Erdoğan.

Öcalan, 75, has been serving a life sentence without parole on İmralı Island since his arrest in Nairobi in February 1999.