Status verified as of 21 September 2026. Political positions change; this explainer describes the documented position on that date.
Current position
The PKK announced its own dissolution on 12 May 2025 and began a symbolic disarmament process on 11 July 2025, following Öcalan's February 2025 call for the group to end its armed struggle and transform into a political actor. This bundle does not track the disarmament process's implementation beyond that ceremony, nor any resulting political or legal changes affecting Kurdish rights in Turkey.[1][2]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: On 12 May 2025, following its 12th congress, the PKK announced that it had officially dissolved its organizational structure, ended its armed struggle, and terminated all activities conducted under the PKK name, following Öcalan's February 2025 call; reporting described the conflict as having cost some 40,000 lives over more than three decades.
- Kurdish leader Ocalan told the PKK to disband, it did: Here's what to know (Al Jazeera) link, Dissolution announcement section. Source record
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2.
Claim: On 11 July 2025, around 30 PKK members, including some party leaders, took part in a ceremony at Jasana Cave near Dukan, around 60 kilometres northwest of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, in which they laid down and burned their weapons as a symbolic first step of the group's disarmament process, implementing decisions made at the PKK's 12th congress; the weapons were destroyed rather than handed over to any party or force.
- PKK militants in Iraq begin laying down arms as part of peace process with Turkey (Euronews) link, Ceremony section. Source record
Printed from https://independenceatlas.com/movements/kurdish-turkey/status · last substantive update 24 September 2026.