Kurdish PKK militants announce decision to dissolve after decades of conflict with Turkey

By Jessie Yeung and Gul Tuysuz, CNN

(CNN) — The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said on Monday it would dissolve itself, in what would be a historic move after decades of conflict with Turkey that have killed tens of thousands of people.

The militant group said in a statement Monday that “all activities” conducted under the group’s name have come to an end.

The Kurdish issue has come “to a point where it can be resolved through democratic politics,” the PKK said in a statement. The 12th Congress, a high-level decision-making meeting by the group, has “resolved to dissolve the PKK’s organizational structure and end the armed struggle,” the statement said, adding that the implementation of the process will be managed and led by their imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

The statement did not clarify whether the decision would apply to all PKK affiliates in Iraq, Syria, and Iran, nor did it outline how disarmament would be carried out or what would become of existing fighters.

The group said that “rebuilding Turkish-Kurdish relations is inevitable,” and that the decision was also influenced by “current developments in the Middle East.”

It also called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government and all political parties to “assume responsibility and join the peace and democratic society process.”

The Turkish presidency said on Monday that the PKK’s decision is an indication that the “Terror-Free Turkey process” under Erdogan “has gained strength and come to an important stage,” adding that all “necessary measures will be taken” to ensure that the process progresses.

The spokesperson for the president’s Justice and Development (AK) Party said the decision could lead to a “new era.”

“If terrorism is completely ended, the door to a new era will open,” Omer Celik said, adding that “this decision must be implemented in practice and realized in all its dimensions.”

For almost five decades, Turkey has been at war with the PKK, founded by Ocalan in 1978. Much of the fighting has focused on the group’s desire to establish an independent Kurdish state in the country’s southeast. But in recent years the group has called for more autonomy within Turkey instead.

In March, the PKK declared an immediate ceasefire after Ocalan called on fighters to lay down their arms and dissolve the group.

The conflict is estimated to have killed at least 40,000 people.

The Kurdish people have had a complicated relationship with Erdogan. The Turkish leader courted the Kurds in earlier years by granting them more rights and reversing restrictions on the use of their language. In 2013, Erdogan worked with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on the brief peace process with the PKK.

Talks collapsed and ties soured in 2015. Turkey’s war with the PKK has led to a sweeping crackdown in recent years against pro-Kurdish parties, who have been accused by the Turkish government of having links to the group and its affiliates.

Kurds are the biggest minority in Turkey, making up between 15% and 20% of the population, according to Minority Rights Group International. They also have a significant presence in northern Syria, northern Iraq and Iran.

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CNN’s Nechirvan Mando and Nadeen Ebrahim contributed to this report.