Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have withdrawn from four camps in northern Iraq in the first step of an intended disbandment, Turkish security sources said on Monday.
– Turkey’s parliament in August passed a law to set out parameters for the PKK’s dissolution as part of a peace process hoped to end a decades-old conflict that has killed tens of thousands and ravaged the mainly Kurdish southeast.
– The legislation provides protections for many former militants who have not committed specific crimes and facilitates the suspension of sentences for some convicted of PKK membership, paving the way for their reintegration into society.
– The security sources said the PKK had from last Thursday withdrawn from the Hebat, Yajk, Sabri and Sason camps in the Baze district of Iraq’s Metina region in evidence that the peace process was pressing ahead.
– Once it ceased all activities, PKK members could join social integration programmes in education, economic and other areas as part of the legal framework for disbandment, the sources added.
– The peace process between Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army, and the PKK began in late 2024, but came to a near standstill earlier this year due to the Iran war and concerns about regional instability.
– There was no immediate comment from Iraq or the PKK on the withdrawals.
– The PKK is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. It launched its insurgency in 1984 and initially sought an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey, but later refocused on seeking autonomy and Kurdish political rights.
– Last month, Turkey agreed to gradually hand over a military camp for its forces in northern Iraq to the Baghdad government, as part of a recalibration of security threats amid the peace process.