ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s foreign ministry on Saturday said it welcomed Abdullah Ocalan’s call for his Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to lay down arms and disband.
The ministry “views this initiative as a significant step towards enhancing security - not only in Iraq, where armed elements of the mentioned party are present in various areas of the Kurdistan Region and some disputed territories, but also in the broader region,” it said in a statement early Saturday morning.
In his letter from prison, Ocalan said that the PKK must hold a congress and make a decision about its future, adding that “all [PKK-affiliated] groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself.”
He noted that the PKK was born out of a time marred by violence, restrictions on basic freedoms, and denial of Kurdish identity. “The PKK, the longest and most extensive insurgency in the history of the [Turkish] Republic, found social base and support, and was primarily inspired by the fact that the channels of democratic politics were closed.”
But today, political developments have “led to PKK’s loss of meaning and excessive repetition. Therefore, it has completed its life like its counterparts and necessitated its dissolution,” he said.
The PKK has bases in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains. Last year, under pressure from Ankara, the Iraqi government officially banned the organization.
Kurdistan Region’s official and political leaders have also welcomed Ocalan’s call, which has also received international support, including from the United Nations, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
