ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will take a "historic step” on Sunday in the ongoing peace process with Turkey, according to media affiliated with the party.
The PKK will "take a new historic step in accordance with Abdullah Ocalan’s call and the resolutions of the PKK’s 12th Congress," ANF news reported, adding that the action will be announced to the public in a press conference but giving no further details.
The PKK, at its 12th Congress in May, decided to dissolve itself and end its armed struggle against the Turkish state. The party made the decision after founder Ocalan urged it to seek a democratic resolution to the struggle for Kurdish rights.
Rudaw understands a statement detailing the PKK's next steps in the peace process with Ankara will be read to the public in a press conference.
"The step will be made by a number of [PKK] guerillas for the peace process," a well-informed source told Rudaw, adding the content of the message may contain "the transfer of a group of guerillas from one place to another."
A PKK source said the press conference will be held at the foot of Mount Qandil, in the Raparin Administration of Sulaimani province.
"It will mark the first practical step" by the PKK, the second source said.
On July 11, a group of PKK fighters burned their weapons in Jasana Cave in Sulaimani province in a symbolic disarmament.
A Turkish parliamentary commission is now formulating the legal foundations for peace with the PKK.
A committee mediating peace talks between the PKK and the Turkish government is expected to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan soon, though the presidency has not confirmed what would be their third meeting.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state but later shifted its focus toward broader political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey.
Updated at 03:16pm with comments from PKK sources
