PKK declares ceasefire

TABNAK, Mar. 01 – PKK will heed its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan's call for disarmament and declare an immediate ceasefire

News ID: 6066

Date: 01 March 2025 - 11:09

PKK will heed its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan's call for disarmament and declare an immediate ceasefire, a news agency close to the group cited it as saying on Saturday, Reuters reported.

The group said it hoped Ankara would release Ocalan, held since 1999, so he can lead a process of disarmament, adding that the necessary political and democratic conditions need to be established for the process to succeed.

Earlier the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that Iran welcomes the PKK leader’s call on the group to put aside arms, calling it an important step toward reducing violence.

Esma’eel Baqayi said on Friday that the Islamic Republic supports any process that results in the cessation of terrorism and the reinforcement of security in the neighboring Turkiye, expressing hope that the process will have a positive impact on the region.

Earlier on Tuesday, Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish militant group PKK, called on his followers to lay down their arms after decades of battling the Turkish state. “Convene your congress and make a decision. All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” Ocalan said in a message from prison, Turkish media reported.

The message was read in Kurdish and Turkish by pro-Kurdish party politicians who visited Ocalan earlier in the day. The PKK. is designated a terrorist group by Turkey. And Ocalan has been in prison since 1999.