The ceremony marked a major step in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics as part of a broader effort to end one of the region's longest-running conflicts.
Analysts say that with the PKK weakened and the Kurdish public exhausted by decades of violence, Turkey's peace offer handed its jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan a chance to make the long-desired switch away from armed struggle.
The PKK's disarmament also grants President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the distinction of being the Turkish leader who managed to draw a line under a conflict that has cost more than 40,000 lives and wrought havoc in Turkey and beyond.
Outside the ancient cave of Casene, a group of 30 PKK fighters, men and women, gathered on a stage in khaki fatigues, their faces uncovered, in front of an audience of around 300 people, an AFP correspondent reported.
One by one, they walked down to lay their weapons in a cauldron in which a fire was lit. Most were rifles but there was one machine gun and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
As they looked on, people in the crowd started cheering while others could be heard weeping.
After the ceremony, the fighters returned to the mountains, a PKK commander said.
- Ocalan's freedom 'essential' -
Speaking to AFP after the ceremony, the PKK's top female commander Bese Hozat said that for the process to succeed, it was essential to release Ocalan -- known to his followers as 'Apo' -- who has been serving life in solitary confinement since 1999.
"Ensuring Leader Apo's physical freedom via legal guarantees is essential... he should be able to freely lead and manage this process. This is our primary condition and demand," she said.
"Without this development, it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully."
Erdogan hailed the ceremony as an "important step" on the path to a "terror-free Turkey", expressing hope it would lead to "the establishment of lasting peace in our region".
A senior Turkish official source described it as "an irreversible turning point", saying the move to decommission weapons was part of a broader process that would ultimately involve the legal return of former fighters and their reintegration into society.
PKK militants have insisted on the need for legal reform in Turkey to allow them to return home and engage in democratic politics, commander Hozat told AFP.
"If Turkey... enacts laws and implements radical legal reforms... we will go to Turkey and engage in politics," she said.
"If there is no legal constitutional arrangements, we will either end up in prison or being killed."
- 'New era' for Kurds -
Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party, which played a key role in facilitating contacts between Ocalan and Ankara, hailed the ceremony as the start of a "new era for the Kurdish issue".
It also filed a legal petition for the release of former top pro-Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, who was jailed in 2016 and sentenced last year to 42 years for his alleged role in a series of deadly 2014 protests.
France's foreign ministry said it welcomed Friday's ceremony, adding it hoped the PKK's dissolution would "be effective and verifiable", bring an end to the violence, and "give rise to an inclusive political process".
The PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a string of bloody attacks on Turkish soil.
But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution and said it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Ocalan.
Earlier this week, Ocalan said the disarmament process would be "implemented swiftly".
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 a historic appeal at the end of February by Ocalan, 76, who has spent the past 26 years behind bars.
PKK disarmament marks 'new era' for resolving Kurdish question: pro-Kurdish DEM party
Istanbul (AFP) July 11, 2025 -
Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party on Friday hailed a "new era" following a historic disarmament ceremony at which PKK militants began destroying their weapons after ending decades of armed struggle.
"With the PKK's arms burning ceremony, we are entering a new era for a solution to the Kurdish issue and the construction of a democratic Turkey," the party said in a statement, describing it as "a turning point" for the Middle East.
The party, which played a key role in facilitating contacts between Ankara and jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, also filed a request for the release of Selahattin Demirtas, the former head of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, which later became DEM.
"We have filed a request with the Ankara (court) for the release of the former HDP co-chairs... who have been unlawfully held hostage for years," it said.
The charismatic 52-year-old has been jailed since 2016 and last year, was sentenced to 42 years for his alleged role in a series of deadly protests that happened a decade earlier.
The statement also referred to his former co-chair Figen Yuksekdag, 53, who was sentenced in 2024 to 30 years on charges of terrorist propaganda.
"We wholeheartedly salute this historic initiative for disarmament and transition to democratic politics by the Group for Peace and Democratic Society," DEM said, referring to the group that destroyed its weapons earlier on Friday.
"It's time to intensify the struggle for democratic politics."
PKK militants want to enter Turkish politics: top commander
Sulaimaniyah, Iraq (AFP) July 11, 2025 -
Kurdish PKK militants want to return to Turkey and enter democratic politics, one of the group's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq.
In an interview with AFP, Bese Hozat, one of the Kurdish militant group's two top leaders, also warned the fragile peace process risked being derailed if Ankara failed to free its jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan.
And she said Turkey needed to enact urgent legal reforms to allow PKK fighters to return home without fear of prosecution or death after ending their decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
"The Turkish state needs to grant us the right to enter democratic politics.. We are ready and willing to go to Turkey to engage in democratic politics," she said.
"A comprehensive decision has been made to abandon the armed struggle and to continue the struggle for democracy through lawful political means and legal grounds," she said.
But for the PKK's metamorphosis from armed struggle to democratic politics to be a success, she continued, it was essential for Turkey to release Ocalan -- known to his followers as "Apo" (uncle).
He has been serving a life sentence in solitary confinement on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul since 1999.
"Ensuring leader Apo's physical freedom legally, via legal guarantees, is essential... he should be able to freely lead and manage this process. This is our primary condition and demand," she said.
"Without this development, it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully."
The PKK has repeatedly demanded Ocalan be released to lead the process, although the 76-year-old had earlier this week insisted his own freedom was not important.
And she said it was essential for Turkey to push through "comprehensive and serious legal reforms" to allow PKK militants to return home without fear of prosecution or reprisals.
"If Turkey takes concrete steps, enacts laws and implements radical legal reforms.. we will go to Turkey and engage in politics," she said.
"If there is no legal constitutional arrangements, we will either end up in prison or being killed."
The move to disband and decommission the PKK's weapons was part of a broader five-stage process towards sustainable peace, a senior Turkish official said, speaking anonymously.
The following steps would involve the legal reintegration of former fighters into society, the establishment of mechanisms for their lawful return and for justice, ensuring accountability and stability.
EU opens new probe into TikTok data transfer to China
Dublin (AFP) July 10, 2025 -
An Irish regulator helping police European Union data privacy said Thursday it had launched an investigation into TikTok over the transfer of European users' personal data to servers in China.
TikTok was fined 530 million euros ($620 million) in May by the Data Protection Commission over sending personal data to China, though the Chinese social media giant had insisted this data was only accessed remotely.
The DPC on Thursday said it had been informed by TikTok in April that "limited EEA user data had in fact been stored on servers in China," then deleted, contrary to evidence previously presented by the company.
The watchdog said it had expressed "deep concern" in its previous investigation that "TikTok had submitted inaccurate information".
TikTok plans to appeal the May fine -- the second largest ever imposed by the DPC.
The social media giant has been in the crosshairs of Western governments for years over fears personal data could be used by China for espionage or propaganda purposes.
But TikTok has insisted that it has never received any requests from Chinese authorities for European users' data.
- Big tech -
TikTok, which has 1.5 billion users worldwide, is a division of Chinese tech giant ByteDance.
But since it has its European headquarters in Ireland, the Irish authority is the lead regulator in Europe for the social platform -- as well as others such as Google, Meta and Apple.
The DPC is tasked with ensuring companies comply with the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), launched in 2018 to protect European consumers from personal data breaches.
Its latest probe against the Chinese-owned giant will determine "whether TikTok has complied with its relevant obligations" to comply with the GDPR.
The data protection watchdog has imposed a number of massive fines against tech companies as the EU seeks to rein in big tech firms over privacy, competition, disinformation and taxation.
For years, TikTok promoted its data protection policies. It made much of what it called Project Clover, a plan to invest 12 billion euros (currently $14 billion) in European data security over 10 years, from 2023 onwards.
It claimed that Europeans' data was by default stored in Norway, Ireland, and the United States and "that employees in China have no access to restricted data," such as phone numbers or IP addresses.
TikTok told AFP in May that it had "promptly" informed the DPC of a technical issue regarding data transfers.
The social media giant is also under pressure in the United States where it faces a looming ban if it does not find a non-Chinese buyer.
US President Donald Trump said at the end of June that a group of buyers had been found for TikTok, adding that he could name the purchasers in a matter of weeks.
Related Links
News From Across The Stans
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
