The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has begun destroying its weapons in an unprecedented move to end armed struggle and transition to peaceful political resistance, responding to a call from imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is a cross-border Kurdish militant organisation founded by Abdullah Öcalan in 1978 that has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984, initially seeking an independent Kurdish state but later shifting to demands for greater cultural and political autonomy within Turkey. 

The Peace and Democratic Society Group announced the start of disarmament ceremonies by PKK fighters in a symbolic step representing the third phase of implementing the party's decision to withdraw from armed action, 964 media reported on July 11.

"We destroy our weapons before you, by our free will, in realisation of our ideology, and on the basis of enacting laws of democratic integration," the group said in a statement from Sulaymaniyah.

The fighters said they came in response to Öcalan's call issued on June 19, and his peace and democratic society appeal announced on February 27, along with decisions from the PKK's 12th congress held on May 5-7.

The group said it would continue its struggle for freedom, democracy and socialism through democratic politics and legal means as a gesture of good faith and determination for the practical success of the peace and democratic society process.

"We completely agree with leader Abdullah Öcalan's saying: 'I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not in the power of weapons, and I call on you to apply this principle'," the statement said.

The fighters acknowledged that nothing had been easy or free without struggle, with everything achieved by paying a high price daily and fighting with all available strength. They said the future would continue with hard struggle. The group called on all regional and global forces responsible for their people's suffering to respect legitimate national and democratic rights and support the peace process and democratic solution.

They appealed to all peoples, especially women, youth, workers, democratic and socialist forces, intellectuals, writers, academics, lawyers, artists and politicians to understand the historic step correctly and show solidarity.

Designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States, European Union and other countries, the group operates from mountainous bases in northern Iraq and has been involved in a conflict that has killed an estimated 30,000-40,000 people over four decades. Öcalan was captured in 1999 and imprisoned for life, and in February 2025 he called on the PKK to lay down its arms and dissolve itself.