Kurdish Fighters in Northern Iraq to Begin Disarmament

A Kurdish militant group that has been fighting a long-running insurgency in Turkey announced on Thursday that its fighters in northern Iraq will start handing over their weapons in a move that marks the first concrete step toward disarmament in a peace process that could reshape the region, according to a report published by The Associated Press.

PKK Fighters to Surrender Arms in Sulaymaniyah

According to the report, the event will take place from 10-12 July in Sulaymaniyah, a city in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. 

In their Thursday announcement, the PKK stated, “A number of guerrilla militants will descend from the mountains and will bid adieu to their weapons in an attempt to announce their goodwill towards peace and democratic politics,” as reported by the AP.

An Iraqi Kurdish government official further told the publication on the condition of anonymity that some 40 members of the PKK are due to surrender their light arms to the regional authorities.

PKK to Disband After Four Decades of Conflict

In May, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had declared that it would disband and give up armed conflict, signaling an end to more than 40 years of hostilities. This decision came after Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK’s imprisoned leader, urged the group earlier this year to hold a congress and formally disband and disarm.

Despite being jailed on an island off Istanbul since 1999, the 76-year-old is still reported to have strong influence over the Kurdish cause. His message to cease hostilities was regarded as a turning point toward peace following a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s.

The two biggest Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), run the regional government in northern Iraq. While the KDP dominates the Irbil regional capital and Dohuk city, Sulaymaniyah is controlled by the PUK.

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