Kurdish rebel group PKK says it is withdrawing its fighters from Türkiye to Iraq

a militant kurdish The group announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing its fighters turkey Iraq as part of peace efforts with Türkiye.

Statement issued by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Northern Iraq, or PKKA few months ago a group of its fighters began laying down their arms in a symbolic ceremony as part of the peace process.

The group has been waging an insurgency in Türkiye for decades, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people since the 1980s.

“To prevent any risk of conflict or provocation, we are currently withdrawing all our forces within Turkey to the Medya Defense Zone with the approval of Abdullah Ocalan,” Sabri OK’s statement said, referring to the group’s imprisoned leader. The Medya Protectorate is a term often used by the PKK to describe areas of northern Iraq.

The statement also called for legal and political concessions.

“It is very clear that we are committed to the proposals of the 12th Congress and are decisive in implementing them,” the statement said. “However, to implement these proposals, certain legal and political approaches – in line with the resolutions of the PKK’s 12th Congress…need to be adopted.”

Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to call a congress and formally disband and disarm. In May, the PKK announced that it would do so.

The PKK initially began its armed insurgency against Turkey with the aim of establishing a Kurdish state in the south-east of the country. Over time, the objective evolved into a campaign for autonomy and rights for the Kurds within Türkiye.

The group is considered a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, and the European Union.