Some 30 PKK fighters destroyed their weapons at a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday in a move to end long-term conflict in the region that has cost more than 40,000 lives. Tensions rose ahead of the ceremony as two drones were shot down overnight near Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga bases.
PKKfighters destroyed their weapons at a ceremony in IraqiKurdistanFriday, two months after the Kurdish rebelsended their decades-long armed struggleagainst the Turkish state.
The disarmament ceremony marked a turning point in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to draw a line under one of the region's longest-running conflicts.
Founded in the late 1970s byAbdullah Ocalan, the PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a string of bloody attacks on Turkish soil that sparked a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives.
But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution, saying it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence inTurkeysince 1999.
Read moreAfter PKK's landmark disarmament, leader Ocalan urges 'major shift' to mend Kurdish-Turkish ties
Friday's ceremony took place in the morning in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan where most of the PKK's fighters have been holed up for the past decade near the northeastern city of Sulaimaniyah.
Although there were limited details about the ceremony, an AFP correspondent said thirty Kurdish PKK fighters destroyed their weaponsat the brief ceremony in a cave.
"As a gesture of goodwill, a number of PKK fighters, who took part in fighting Turkish forces in recent years, will destroy or burn their weapons in a ceremony," a PKK commander told AFP on July 1, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Tensions rose ahead of the ceremony as two drones were shot down overnight near Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga bases, one in Sulaimaniyah, and the other in Kirkuk to the west, according to officials who did not say was behind the attacks. No casualties were reported.
'Power of politics'
The start of the PKK's disarmament is a key step in the months-long indirect negotiations between Ocalan and Ankara that began in October with the blessing of Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan, and have been facilitated by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party.
Among those expected to attend the ceremony were several DEM lawmakers, who arrived in Sulaimaniyah on Thursday, and a handful of journalists.
"I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I urge you to put this principle into practice," Ocalan said in a video message released on Wednesday, pledging that the disarmament process would be "implemented swiftly".
Erdogan said peace efforts with theKurdswould gain momentum after the PKK began laying down its weapons.
"The process will gain a little more speed when the terrorist organisation starts to implement its decision to lay down arms," he said at the weekend.
"We hope this auspicious process will end successfully as soon as possible, without mishaps or sabotage attempts," he added on Wednesday.
In recent months, the PKK has taken several historic steps, starting with a ceasefire and culminating in its formal dissolution announced on May 12.
The shift followed an appeal on February 27 by Ocalan, who has spent the past 26 years in solitary confinement on Imrali prison island near Istanbul.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
