PKK disbandment now paves the way for US and Turkiye to improve relations: Analysis

The Kurdistan Workers Party known as the PKK has announced its decision to disband and disarm as part of a peace init initiative with Turkey the announcement and four decades of armed struggle against the Turkish government so the Kurdish armed group the Kurdistan Workers Party was founded in 1978 by Abdullah Chalan in 1984 it launched an armed insurgency against Turkey seeking independence but later pushed for Kurdish rights and autonomy more than 40,000 people have since have since been killed in the conflict the PKK operates from mountain strongholds in northern Iraq turkey regularly strikes its bases
despite Iraq saying the attacks violate its sovereignty it’s also linked to YPG fighters in Syria a key US ally against ISIL and this has created tension between Turkey and the US as Ankora sees the YPG as part of the PKK turkey the United States and the European Union classify the PKK as a terrorist organization while its supporters call it a resistance movement we’ll now speak to Matthew Bryza who’s a former US diplomat joining us from Istanbul this hour thanks for your time so back in February there was a statement that was issued by the PKK’s leader Abdullah Oalan um in which he called on the organization to lay down its arms so uh in that sense was this decision expected and what’s your reaction to it yes this was expected the leadership organization of the PKK had said okay we’re going to have a congress and then we’ll we’ll take our next round of decisions and that that that just happened on Friday so Ojelan announced that everything was moving in this direction now the organization it itself has officially announced we are disbanding and laying down our arms uh my reaction is to say gigantic
development for Turkey both for its internal security uh this has been an insurgency going on since 1984 but also for Turkish foreign policy because as as you mentioned the the PKK’s affiliate in Syria the YPG had been an ally of the United States that created huge tensions between the US and Turkey so so the
disbanding the PKK clears the way now for US Turkey relations now has been improved dramatically uh and also um PKIA had faced a lot of criticism internationally as you just said by the Iraqi government for its raids against the PKK leadership on Iraqi territory and by others uh because of its fight against these Kurdish militias which led many in the international community to say that Turkey is against the Kurds so
that was a blast spot on Turkeykey’s record and and made it more difficult for Taka to play the role it aspires to especially in the Middle East which is one of being a stabilizing force okay look let me just ask you about Syria since you brought it up i mean is it clear how this decision will affect Syria well it it is a few weeks ago the YPG agreed at the urging of the the new government in Syria of Alshara that it
there in Syria would um integrate itself into the Syrian military so that problem has been resolved for a while from Ankura’s perspective and so by now with the PKK having dissolved that will make the tensions less the political tensions in Syria that were involving the YPG and then enhanced Turkey’s own role and
aspiration to help uh Syria rebuild its government rebuild its economy and thereby help Turkey really expand its influence in Syria which is already quite large and any clarity uh Matthew Bryzo on how the PKK will actually surrender their weapons how is this process going to work that’s a great question that is complex no there’s not clarity on that what the the PKK has announced through its affiliated news agency is that its leader Abdullahan imprisoned here in Istanbul since 1999 on terrorism charges um that he will lead this overall process of of the dismantling of the PKK so it seems those details at least well they definitely have not been announced but I think still need to be worked out and I think that PKK statement that I just cited is a suggestion that this is all contingent on OAN getting released from prison here in Turkey which has which has been discussed for the last several months okay we’ll leave it there matthew Bryer you’re a former US diplomat speaking to us from Istanbul this hour.