A historic ceremony in northern Iraq has marked the beginning of an end to nearly five decades of conflict with Turkey, as a small group of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants laid down their arms. The symbolic gesture was held in the ancient cave of Casene near Sulaymaniyah, where about 30 men and women from the militant group placed their weapons in a large cauldron and set them on fire.
The PKK fighters announced their intent to continue the “struggle for freedom” through democratic politics and legal means. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the day’s events as an “irreversible turning point” and called it an “important step” on the path to a terrorism-free Turkey.
Iraq’s foreign ministry welcomed the PKK’s announcement, considering it a significant development towards disarmament. The PKK has been listed as a terror group in Turkey, the US, and the EU since its founding in 1978.
Erdogan’s efforts to end the conflict have failed several times before. He courted Kurdish votes by granting them more rights and reversing restrictions on their language use. However, talks with pro-Kurdish parties collapsed, leading to crackdowns against the opposition. A popular Kurdish politician, Selahattin Demirtas, remains in jail after being detained in 2016.
The PKK’s surrender marks a significant shift in the conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives since its inception. The group initially fought for an independent state in Turkey’s southeast but now seeks more autonomy and cultural rights within the country.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/11/middleeast/turkey-kurdish-conflict-pkk-ceremony-intl