Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a “new page in history” has turned, after the Kurdish PKK militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in the country began laying down their weapons.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, held a symbolic ceremony on Friday in northern Iraq. It was the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament, as part of a peace process.
Speaking at a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party on Saturday, Erdogan hailed the event as a victory.
“Turkey has won, my nation has won. Every single one of our 86 million citizens, Turkish, Kurdish, and Arab has won,” he said.
"We will not participate in, nor will we engage in, any attempt to threaten our unity, our integrity, our homeland, our state, our nation, our peace, our honour and our pride," Erdogan added.
The PKK announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities.
"As of yesterday, the 47-year scourge of terrorism has entered the process of ending, God willing," Erdogan said. "As of yesterday, Turkey began to close a long, painful and tear-filled chapter."
The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm.
Footage from Friday's event showed fighters — both men and women — casting rifles and machine guns into a large cauldron, where they were then set ablaze.
The PKK issued a statement from the fighters who were laying down their weapons, saying that they had disarmed “as a gesture of goodwill and a commitment to the practical success” of the peace process.
“We will henceforth continue our struggle for freedom, democracy, and socialism through democratic politics and legal means,” the statement said.
The state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that 30 fighters had disarmed “symbolically” on Friday, and that the continuing disarmament process “will take place in stages.” The process is expected to be completed by September, the agency reported.
