Shafaq News – Al-Sulaymaniyah

A group of fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is expected to lay down their weapons in Al-Sulaymaniyah next week, marking the first concrete step toward the group’s disarmament, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Thursday.

The move follows the PKK’s announcement in May that it would dissolve and end its armed struggle, in response to a call earlier this year by its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan. Despite being held in a Turkish prison since 1999, Ocalan continues to exert significant influence over the group.

According to a PKK statement cited by AP, “a group of guerrilla fighters will come down from the mountains and will bid farewell to their arms in an effort to declare their goodwill for peace and democratic politics.”

The ceremony is expected to take place between July 10 and July 12 in Al-Sulaymaniyah, located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It will be the group’s first formal gesture toward disarmament.

An Iraqi Kurdish official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, said that approximately 40 PKK members are expected to hand over their light weapons to the regional government.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is shared between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which controls Erbil and Duhok, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which administers Al-Sulaymaniyah.

While the KDP maintains close ties with Turkiye and has been at odds with the PKK, the PUK has traditionally had a closer relationship with the group.

As of Thursday, Turkiye’s government had not issued an official response to the announcement.