PKK | New chapter for Turkey?

The office is stuffy; the air conditioning has broken down at 40 degrees Celsius. "We have to swallow all of this," says Soma Khalid, gazing at the life-size portraits of her colleagues killed less than a year ago. A Turkish army drone bombed the two journalists Gülistan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn on their way back from a shoot in August 2024. Soma's voice conveys a sincere hope that the peace process will be a success.

As a representative of a small television production company in Suleymaniye, Soma was one of approximately 400 people who attended the weapons laying ceremony by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Friday. Thirty fighters, 15 at a time, symbolically piled up their weapons and set them on fire , an hour's drive northwest of the city of Suleymaniye, which has a population of one million, in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq.

Not only did around 400 guests from Turkey, Iraq, and the Kurdish autonomous region, as well as from civil society and politics, gather in the narrow gorge at the end of which lies the hidden Jasana Cave. The gorge was largely sealed off by heavily armed security forces. Only a convoy of white and black SUVs, some without license plates, was allowed to make its way up the winding road to the cave, which is otherwise signposted as a tourist attraction.

A matter of 20 minutes

Images of the ceremony only become public after it has already ended. Those present are strictly forbidden from using cell phones. Soma Khalid was also not allowed to film. Only a few media outlets affiliated with the Turkish government, the PKK, or the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which governs the Suleymaniye region, are permitted to take photos and videos.

The ceremony itself lasts perhaps 20 minutes: The group of fighters descends the stairs leading to the cave, first the women, then the men, and positions themselves on a stage beneath a picture of imprisoned PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan. The woman in her mid-forties who leads the group, Besê Hozat, reads a statement in Turkish; the man next to her, Bezhat Çarcel, repeats it in Kurdish and in a military tone.

Afterwards, the fighters – this time the men first – leave the stage and place their weapons one by one in a fire bowl: 26 Kalashnikovs, a grenade launcher, a sniper rifle, a heavy machine gun, and a US-made assault rifle are gradually stacked in the bowl. Their barrels point upward, cushioned only by the ammunition belts the fighters carefully discard before stepping aside as the woman and man together set fire to the pile, reminiscent of a traditional Newroz fire for the Kurdish New Year, using a canister of gasoline.

"Terror-free Türkiye" versus "Peace and a democratic society"

Afterwards, the 30 people, who stand out among the crowd with their camouflage suits reminiscent of traditional Kurdish clothing, leave the scene in the direction of the gorge before disappearing back into the cave.

The cremation ceremony is the culmination of a process that began in October of last year and is being pursued by the Turkish government under the slogan "Terror-Free Turkey" and by the Kurdish movement under the slogan "Peace and a Democratic Society." The goal, both sides agree, is to end the military confrontation that has lasted for over 40 years and has degenerated into a stalemate in recent years.

After the last failed peace process, the Turkish state was neither able to "bring the PKK to its knees," as it openly put it, nor did the PKK advance any closer to its political goals through armed struggle. Instead, the last ten years have seen fighting, primarily in the Turkish-Iraqi mountain regions, without a definitive winner emerging.

The Turkish state was neither able to “bring the PKK to its knees,” as it had put it, nor did the PKK come any closer to its political goals through armed struggle.

Instead, after Öcalan's call in February, the unilateral ceasefire in March, the PKK congress and the declaration of dissolution in May, there is now a ceremony with which the PKK wants to make it unmistakably clear to both friend and foe: We are ready, willing and able to stop the armed struggle and to take new paths as a social movement.

Barely noticed, the PKK published the names and details of the fighters who participated in the ceremony the evening after the ceremony. They ranged in age from 21 to 60, some had been members of the party for one year, some for well over 30 years. This sensitive data the PKK had previously only published about its members if they died or were killed.

Although a small step in material terms, it opens the door to fundamental changes in the conflict that many have been waiting for for years. And while many like Soma welcome the move and hope for success, skepticism remains about how serious Turkey is. And whether all actors within Turkey will truly go along with it or, as so often in Turkish history, more or less powerful cliques and circles in the military and intelligence services might have their own agenda and sabotage the process.

Turkish society needs a change in mentality

Fakhir has lived in Sulaymaniyah for over 14 years. After years of repression due to his legal political work in Kurdish parties in the Kurdish region of Hakkari, he fled Turkey in 2011 after being tortured and went into exile. In recent years and decades, a large exile community has developed in Sulaymaniyah, but even here it is not safe from the long arm of Turkey. Murders of political activists in Kurdish areas of Turkey occur repeatedly. Arrests are almost never made; the notorious Turkish intelligence agency (MIT) often later claims responsibility for the attacks and claims to have "neutralized terrorists."

Fakhir is unwilling to answer the question about the prospect of a return to Turkey in the course of the peace process. First, there must not only be an admission by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that previous governments may have done something wrong. A change in mentality is needed in Turkey that makes such behavior impossible in the future. However, this is not in sight; rather, the narrative of a "terror-free Turkey," promoted by the governing parties AKP and MHP, still implies that all Kurds who fought for their rights were terrorists.

And indeed, Erdoğan's statement on Saturday, announced as a "historic speech," offers little that could be interpreted as a change in mentality. Rather, it seems as if the government now wants to officially extend a hand to the pro-Kurdish Dem Party. Erdoğan speaks of an alliance of AKP, MHP, and Dem that will now continue down this path. This is a narrative that excludes the rest of the opposition and which the Dem Party itself contradicts, without directly seeking confrontation with Erdoğan.

Central role of the Turkish Parliament

Kurdish political veteran Ahmet Türk, who, like many mayors, was deposed by the Dem and CHP in recent months, declared on Saturday: "As long as trustees are appointed in CHP municipal administrations, I myself will not accept being able to return to work. If so, then all trustees should be ended."

In the coming period, the Turkish parliament, in particular, is likely to become a central factor in the peace process. The parliamentary commission announced by Erdoğan has a lot of work to do. Not only on the issue of disarming the PKK, as Erdoğan emphasized in his speech, but also on the need for the Turkish state to take steps toward the Kurdish movement .

The list of unanswered questions is long: compulsory administrations, the terror law , the situation of sick and long-serving prisoners, the conditions of Öcalan's detention, amnesty for PKK fighters with Turkish citizenship, strengthening of local administrations and teaching in the mother tongue, to name just a few of the issues that have been raised by various parties in recent days.

Laying down arms is only the beginning

This process is unlikely to proceed without problems or opposition, even if the AKP and MHP are willing to go ahead. Several smaller nationalist parties are already accusing the government of negotiating with terrorists and thus committing treason.

But even within the CHP, whose leadership had actually announced support, voices are opposing Erdoğan's conciliatory overtones. The mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş, openly spoke out against the alliance of Turks, Arabs, and Kurds suggested by Erdoğan.

With the laying down of arms ceremony, the peace process in Turkey is far from over, as some might have thought. It is just beginning.