Shafaq News – Duhok

On Thursday, the head of the local government in Duhok, Ali Tatar, called on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to fully withdraw from border villages adjacent to Turkiye to begin the reconstruction and rehabilitation process.

Tatar told reporters that the PKK should leave the villages following the peace process between the group and Turkiye. “These villages have suffered damage in various ways over long periods, in some cases for more than 40 years. The party must withdraw so the Kurdish government can rebuild them,” he said.

Read more: Turkiye’s cautious gamble: PKK disarmament and the regional chessboard

For decades, PKK fighters have maintained a presence in mountainous areas of Duhok province along the border with Turkiye, using them as bases for operations. The group’s presence has repeatedly drawn Turkish air and ground operations into Iraqi territory, damaging villages, farmlands, and infrastructure and forcing many residents to flee.

In February, the group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, issued a historic message from his prison cell on Imrali Island, urging the PKK to disarm and dissolve itself after more than four decades of armed conflict with the Turkish state.