PKK announces dissolution and end to armed struggle

The Kurdistan Workers' Party announced on 12 May 2025 that it would dissolve its organizational structure and end armed struggle. The decision followed a congress held after imprisoned founder Abdullah Ocalan called in February for disarmament and dissolution.

The PKK began an insurgency against the Turkish state in 1984, and the conflict caused tens of thousands of deaths and extensive displacement. Türkiye, the United States and European Union designate the organization as terrorist. Kurdish political identity and civilian communities are not synonymous with PKK membership.

The announcement said the Kurdish issue should be pursued through democratic politics. It did not itself specify complete weapons disposal, verification, legal protections for members or reforms by the Turkish government. Implementation therefore required observable actions and political decisions from several sides.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government welcomed the move while warning it must be comprehensive and include affiliated groups. Links among Kurdish armed organizations are contested and should not be asserted beyond evidence about command and structure.

This record captures the organization's formal declaration, not a certified completion of disarmament or a final settlement. It recognizes the potential end of a long insurgency while keeping amnesty, prisoner status, cultural rights and regional security as later negotiation and verification questions.

A later verifiable sequence would need to include weapons collection, command dissolution and treatment of members under Turkish law. Until those steps are documented, “announced dissolution” remains the precise status rather than a completed disarmament certificate.