Jailed PKK leader tells group to lay down arms, end conflict with Turkiye

The jailed leader of Turkiye’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan has made a historic call for the party to lay down its arms, dissolve itself and end its decades-long conflict with the Turkish state.

A delegation of Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party on Thursday visited the island prison where Ocalan has been held since 1999 and later delivered his statement in nearby Istanbul.

“I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call,” Ocalan said in the letter.

“Convene your [party] congress and make a decision. All groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” Ocalan said, according to the statement.

The PKK is deemed a “terrorist” organisation by Turkiye and its Western allies.

Read more: Al Jazeera