Decision to disband follows decades of attacks punctuated by failed peace talks and a changing political landscape.
Published On 27 May 202527 May 2025
History Illustrated is a series of perspectives that puts news events and current affairs into historical context using graphics generated with artificial intelligence.
The Kurdish Workers’ Party, the PKK – designated a terror group by Turkiye, the US and the EU – plans to disband. The announcement follows a February 2025 call by leader Abdullah Ocalan, imploring members to lay down their arms. Turkiye welcomed the plan. The question, perhaps, is why now?
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In 1978, Ocalan cofounded the PKK with leftist students, to advocate for a Kurdish state. Among them was the “legend”, Sakine Cansiz, who would later be mysteriously assassinated.During the late 1980s, the PKK targeted the Turkish military, and in the early ’90s kidnapped tourists in Turkiye, carried out suicide bombings and attacked Turkish offices in Europe.For more than a decade, Ocalan was based in Syria, but was finally expelled in 1998 in the face of Turkish threats. He sought asylum in Russia, Italy, Greece and, finally, Kenya.On February 15, 1999, Ocalan left the Greek embassy in Nairobi and was captured by Turkish agents. He was tried in Turkiye, sentenced to death (later commuted to life) and imprisoned to this day on Imrali Island.In 1999, Ocalan called for a ceasefire but in 2004, Turkish security forces were called back into action after the PKK resumed its campaign of violence.
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In late 2012, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed his government had started secret peace talks with Ocalan. But in January 2013 in Paris, Cansiz, the PKK cofounder, was assassinated. Turkiye’s intelligence service denied any involvement. By 2015, fighting had broken out yet again.Ten years later, on May 12, the PKK pledged to disband, a historic decision Erdogan’s administration welcomed. Some have speculated peace could help Erdogan win the 2028 elections, given Kurds make up almost 20 percent of Turkiye’s 85 million people.But after 22 years in power, Erdogan says he will not seek re-election in 2028. He also says Turkiye needs a new constitution. And it’s that new constitution that Turkish voters will likely be eyeing closely.
