The latest disbandment announcements made by the politico-militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have “no direct connection” to the group’s Iranian arm, the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), a “spokesperson” for PJAK, Rivar Abdanan, reaffirmed on August 26.

“PJAK is an independent Kurdish political party operating in eastern Kurdistan and Iran. The dissolution of the PKK/KCK has no direct connection to PJAK,” he said, adding: “In terms of worldview and the philosophy of struggle, PJAK believes in the ideas and roadmap of Leader Apo [Abdullah Ocalan]”.

Apo and KCK

Since its 1978 launch, the PKK has utilised a sophisticated “umbrella” strategy, frequently changing names to adapt to shifting legal and geopolitical dynamics. There are dozens of combinations of various sets of three letters that operate under the umbrella.

Since 2005, the name Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) has been used as the name of the umbrella organisation of the Kurdish political movement that is dominated by Apo, imprisoned in Turkey since 1999.

Syria arm

The PKK’s Syria arm, which captured one-third of the country under US patronage before merging recently with the Hayat Tahrir Sham (HTS) administration in Damascus, has managed to keep its armed militants collectively under its command. They will operate under the armed forces that are being established by the HTS.

How many PKK militants there are in Syria is not clear, but the number could be described as in the several tens of thousands. In addition to the armed units integrated into the HTS’ military organisation, there are thousands of trained female PKK militants as well as militants who served the PKK but returned to civilian life after fighting against Islamic State.

As part of the integration process, Turkey lately removed Sipan Hemo, a senior Kurdish militant turned deputy defence minister in Damascus, from its list of designated terrorists. Some other senior Kurdish militants have also been appointed to Damascus positions.

Present in four Kurdistan countries and Europe

The PKK boasts armed militants across the Kurdistan region, which is divided among four sovereign states, namely Turkey (its territory includes the largest part of the region), Iraq, Syria and Iran. It also operates a network of legal and illegal associations that have taken shape across western Europe, as well as legal political parties and associations in the four countries over which the Kurdistan lands are spread.

Armed groups have same address

In his August 26 remarks, Abdanan also warned that the disarmament of the PKK would prove unsustainable if Ankara continued to frame the Kurdish question primarily as a security problem. At the same time, he rejected the idea that some PKK militants could move across to other Kurdish armed organisations, including PJAK.

Asked whether PJAK would remain in the Qandil Mountains, located along the border between northeastern Iraq and western Iran in the Kurdistan region, after the PKK’s dissolution, Abdanan said: “We will continue our struggle in all areas where it is necessary for us to maintain a presence.”

The armed groups of the PKK network have been based in camps in the Qandil Mountains since the 1990s.

Even more names

In July, the Hareket Yonetimi (Movement Management) said in a written statement that KCK executive council co-chair Bese Hozat and 29 of her associates on July 10 reflected on the melting down of some weapons in a furnace that took place one year ago in front of the historic Cesena Cave near Sulaymaniyah in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

“The weapon-destruction ceremony held on July 11, 2025, symbolised a strategic transformation,” another KCK member told ANF, the  PKK’s news service, on July 12.

In May, the Apocu Hareket Yonetimi (Apoist Movement Management), held a press meeting to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the latest self-dissolution declaration made by the PKK, which remains in talks with Turkey’s Erdogan administration on finding a lasting peace.

It was at the media conference that the PKK, which does-not-but-does exist, for the first time referred to itself as Apocu Hareket Yonetimi. The July statement showed that the name has since become Hareket Yonetimi.

“If Apo remains in the dungeon …”

On August 16, Murat Karayilan, a well-known PKK commander, spoke under the new name of Halk Savunma Merkezi Komutanligi (People's Defence Centre Command).

The command also uses other names, including HPG. Karayilan referred to himself  as “a member of the Halk Savunma Merkezi Komutanligi.”

“If Apo remains in the dungeon, I can’t tell anyone to lay down their arms and leave [the group],” he told ANF.