The infamous Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant group banned by some European countries, declared an immediate ceasefire on March 1, 2025. The ceasefire followed the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s disarmament order. It is a significant step toward ending a 40-year insurgency in Turkey.

Abdullah Ocalan called on the Kurdistan Workers Party to surrender its arms and disband. A move that President Tayyip Erdogan’s regime and the opposition pro-Kurdish DEM party expressed support for.

The halt in hostilities could have wide-ranging impacts for the region if it thrives in concluding a conflict that has cost more than 40,000 people. The PKK, currently based in the mountains of northern Iraq, undertook its armed insurgency in 1984. In addition, it could provide Erdogan a domestic support and an historic chance to bring peace and development to southeast Turkey. The dispute has killed thousands and severely hurt the economy.

The PKK said it expected Ankara would give Ocalan more freedoms so he can head a disarmament process. He has been held in near total isolation since 1999. The group further added that the critical political and democratic conditions must be specified for it to succeed.

“We, as the PKK, fully agree with the content of the call and state that, from our front, we will heed the necessities of the call and implement it,”

the group stated.

“Beyond this, issues like laying down arms being put into practice can only be realised under the practical leadership of Leader Apo,”

the group stated, saying it would stop all hostilities immediately unless assailed.

Turkish President Erdogan expressed Turkey will resume raids against the PKK if the disarmament process is delayed, and ensured families that the process would not hamper counter-terrorism operations.

“If the promises that are made are constantly stalled, if an attempt to turn to trickery by eyewashing, changing names, and doing as you please, we can’t be blamed for what happens,” he stated.

“If needed, we will keep up our operations – which are still continuing – leaving no stone standing and leaving no heads on shoulders, until every last terrorist is eliminated,” he also said, stating Ankara would also conclude cross-border threats.

For the peace process to succeed, the PKK declared Ocalan must be given “physical freedom, achieve living and working conditions, form relationships with anyone he wants, including friends, without obstacles”.

The extent to which Ankara will address these issues is undefined. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc expressed that no amnesty, house detention, or other options were being considered, and that there were no negotiations.

Experts have said Erdogan, who has repeatedly attempted to resolve the conflict, is concentrated on the domestic political compensations that peace could bring as he looks to expand his two-decade rule beyond 2028 when his term finishes. Culminating the insurgency would remove a regular flashpoint in Kurdish-run, oil-rich northern Iraq, while boosting actions by Syria’s new administration to maintain greater sway over regions in northern Syria regulated by Kurdish forces.