Ocalan calls for PKK's disbandment, laying arms

Shafaq News/ Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader, Abdullah Öcalan, urged the group members to lay down their arms and dissolve the organization permanently.

In a statement read out by deputies of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Freedom and Democracy Party (DEM) in Istanbul on Thursday, Öcalan declared that the PKK had “completed its life like its counterparts and necessitated its dissolution.”

“Throughout the history exceeding 1,000 years, Turks and Kurds have always considered it necessary to remain in an alliance, with a predominantly voluntary aspect, in order to maintain their existence and to survive against hegemonic powers,” he wrote.

Öcalan called militants, “Hold your congress and make a decision... All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself.”

In his letter, Öcalan concluded calling PKK to “schedule a conference to agree on integration with the state and society, with all groups urged to lay down their arms and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) called upon to disband."