reuters.com
www.reuters.com
  • Ceasefire would have regional implications

-Could also provide domestic boost for Erdogan

  • Conflict has killed thousands and caused severe economic damage

    • Previous efforts to end the insurgency have failed

March 1 (Reuters) - The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group declared an immediate ceasefire on Saturday, a news agency close to it said, heeding jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s disarmament call, in a major step toward ending a 40-year insurgency.

Ocalan on Thursday called on the PKK to lay down its arms and dissolve, a move that President Tayyip Erdogan’s government and the opposition pro-Kurdish DEM party voiced support for.

The ceasefire could have wide-ranging implications for the region if it succeeds in ending a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people since the PKK - now based in the mountains of northern Iraq - launched its armed insurgency in 1984.

  • perestroika@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    8 days ago

    Guess: the geopolitical situation.

    Reasoning (much speculation on my part):

    • PKK is often an excuse for Turkish attacks and proxy attacks
    • the tactics which PKK has used have not proven effective, it has become and stayed isolated
    • with Trump in power, Syrian Kurds cannot rely on US support and Erdogan is less inhibited, PKK may become an excuse for Turkey to attack them
    • with Bashar al Assad gone, there is a possibility of negotiating a tolerable position in a new Syria, and Erdogan is less inhibited because of this too - his regional competitor is gone
    • better to remove the excuse for attacks and explore other options