How will the PKK’s disarmament play out in the region?

The first group of PKK fighters lays down and destroys their weapons in Sulaimaniyah, northern Iraq, on July 11, 2025 [Anadolu Agency]

On Friday, 30 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) threw their weapons into a bonfire at a meeting in Sulaimaniyah, a city in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

After hiding out in Iraq’s Qandil Mountains for three decades, where they reportedly trained for combat and planned attacks against Turkiye, they were now renouncing their armed struggle.