Peregraf
Murat Karayılan, a senior commander of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has reiterated the group’s readiness for peace and disarmament, while sharply criticizing Ankara for failing to take practical steps toward a political settlement. His remarks came in a message delivered to the 33rd International Kurdish Culture Festival in Dortmund, Germany, on September 13, 2025.
Karayılan stressed that the PKK has already made strategic decisions to end its armed struggle, even symbolically burning weapons as part of its congress resolutions. “We burned our weapons! That’s not an easy thing. We would not have done so if we had not looked at this process strategically. Therefore, everyone, especially the Turkish state, must see our seriousness,” he said.
However, he underlined that the peace process cannot move forward without two essential steps:
1. The physical freedom of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan
2. Recognition of the Kurdish language and culture on an equal basis in Turkey
“Threats, games and deceptions will not help, but if there is honesty, our door is really open for a lasting peace,” Karayılan added.
Commission Formed, But Doubts Remain
Turkey’s Parliament recently established the Commission on Democracy, Brotherhood and National Unity, tasked with exploring a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish question. The body includes representatives from across the political spectrum, including the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
While Turkish leaders have described the commission as a hopeful step, the PKK says it remains skeptical, insisting that no practical measures have yet been implemented despite its own gestures of disarmament.
Symbolic Disarmament and Öcalan’s Message
The formation of the commission followed a symbolic PKK disarmament event on July 11, 2025, when 30 guerrilla fighters burned their weapons in Jasana Cave, in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah province.
Just two days earlier, Abdullah Öcalan appeared in a surprise video address from prison—the first in 26 years—formally declaring the end of the PKK’s armed campaign and calling on the movement to pursue democratic political methods instead.
Erdoğan Hails a “Turning Point”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed the developments, calling the PKK’s moves “a historic turning point.” On July 12, he said: “The problem of terror that has been lingering in our nation for 47 years has, God willing, entered the process of ending. The wall of terror is being obliterated.”
He also credited cooperation from the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in facilitating the process, presenting the initiative as part of his “Century of Türkiye” vision.