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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
World
Dorian Jones

Kurdish leader Ocalan calls for PKK disarmament, paving way for peace

People gather to watch live on a tv screen a Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, delegation members releasing an statement from the jailed leader of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, in Diyarbakir, Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Metin Yoksu) AP - Metin Yoksu

The imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, has called for an end to the fight against the Turkish state. This may open the door to ending four decades of conflict that has claimed over 40,000 lives. RFI's correspondent in Istanbul looks at the implications for the wider region.

In a packed conference hall in an Istanbul hotel, Ahmet Turk, a leading member of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Dem Party, read a statement by Ocalan calling for the organization, which he founded, to disarm and dissolve itself, declaring an end to the decades-long conflict.

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