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The Kurdish group waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades.
By Ben Hubbard
Ben Hubbard covers Turkey and the surrounding region.
May 12, 2025, 5:50 a.m. ET
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known by its Kurdish acronym P.K.K., said on Monday that it would lay down arms and disband, ending a decades-long armed insurgency against the Turkish state.
The announcement came several months after the group’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, urged his followers to disarm and disband. The move could reshape Turkish politics and reverberate in neighboring countries.
The P.K.K. began as a secessionist group that sought to create an independent state for Turkey’s Kurdish minority. More recently, it said it sought greater rights for Kurds inside Turkey.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in four decades of conflict, both in P.K.K. attacks on military and civilian targets, and in Turkish military operations against the militants and the communities that harbor them. Turkey, the United States and other countries consider the group a terrorist organization.
Here is what to know about the P.K.K. and its conflict with Turkey.
What is the P.K.K.?
The group began fighting the Turkish state in the early 1980s, originally seeking independence for the Kurds, who are believed to make up about 15 percent of Turkey’s population.
