PKK exits Iraq’s Zap region as part of Turkiye peace effort

Shafaq News – Erbil

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on Monday announced the withdrawal of its fighters from the Zap region in northern Iraq, describing the step as support for the ongoing peace process with Turkiye.

For the past decade, most PKK fighters have been based in the mountains of northern Iraq. Ankara considers the group a terrorist organization and has maintained military positions there for 25 years while carrying out frequent operations.

In a statement carried by the pro-PKK Firat News Agency, the group said its forces left Zap—a border zone with Turkiye that it described as carrying a “risk of conflict”—on the evening of November 16 and redeployed to “more suitable areas,” confirming that the move “serves the resolution of the Kurdish question and contributes to the democratization of Turkiye.”

The announcement follows the group’s pullout from Turkiye into northern Iraq in October—an action Iraq called a threat to its national security.

On February 27, the group’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, urged it to disarm, dissolve its structures, and convene a final congress. In May, the PKK held its second congress and approved dismantling its organizational framework, ending more than four decades of conflict with Ankara.

A group of PKK fighters later burned their weapons in a cave near Dukan in al-Sulaymaniyah province, Kurdistan Region, calling the act a “gesture of goodwill” to reinforce the peace efforts.

Read more: Turkiye’s cautious gamble: PKK disarmament and the regional chessboard