PKK fighters burn weapons in first disarmament ceremony in northern Iraq

Thirty PKK members, half of them women, publicly destroyed their guns on Friday in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah province, the clearest sign yet that the outlawed group is moving to dismantle its four-decade armed campaign.

The fighters emerged from a cave in the Surdas sub-district before hurling rifles and grenades into a blazing cauldron, according to footage released by Türkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency. A senior commander then read a joint statement in Turkish and Kurdish declaring the “end of armed struggle.”

Officials from Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation, Iraqi security services and the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government witnessed the event, alongside members of Türkiye’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party and local NGOs.

Ankara says the gesture follows the PKK’s formal decision in May to dissolve its military wing, announced three months after jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan urged an unconditional ceasefire from his cell on İmralı island.

The conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984, government figures show. The group, which operates from mountain bases in northern Iraq, is designated a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the U.S. and the European Union.

While Friday’s ceremony marks the first verified surrender of weapons, analysts cautioned that splinter factions could resist the move. No timetable has been set for the handover of remaining fighters or for political talks with Ankara.

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