Erdogan rejoices as Kurdish PKK fighters destroy weapons at disarmament ceremony

A fighter with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) puts his weapon into a pit during a ceremony in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on July 11, 2025. Thirty PKK fighters destroyed their weapons at a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan on July 11, two months after the Kurdish rebels ended their decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state. AFP - SHWAN MOHAMMED

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his country had achieved victory after Kurdish rebels destroyed their weapons, ending their decades-long armed struggle against Ankara.

Friday's symbolic weapons destruction ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan marked a major step in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics -- part of a broader effort to end one of the region's longest-running conflicts.