Ankara: The outlawed Labor Party of Kurdistan (the PKK) declared on Saturday heeding the call by its imprisoned chief Abdullah Ocalan to lay down the arms and cease the fighting that had flared up 40 years ago.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the party's executive committee, in a statement broadcast by the pro-PKK news agency, "forat," declared that a decision had been taken to heed Ocalan's call for peace and cease fighting as of today. The party expressed hope Turkiye would release Ocalan, who has been held behind iron bars since 1999, indicating that his freedom is necessary for the disarmament process.
On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed that there is a historic opportunity to "bring down the wall of terrorism" and end the "mutiny," alluding to the PKK that had sought separation from Turkiye and adopted violence. Ocalan, on Thursday, urged his followers to drop the guns and called for dissolving the PKK.