Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdish separatist PKK has called on his movement to lay down its arms and dissolve itself – in a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Turkey and have significant implications for the security of the wider region.
In Syria, where the ouster of Bashar Al-Assad in December has led to the establishment of a strongly pro-Turkey leadership in Damascus, Ocalan's call could prompt the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria to expel members of the PKK-aligned People's Protection Units (YPG), as Ankara has demanded.
In the first reaction to Ocalan's appeal from Erdogan's ruling AK Party, its deputy chairman Efkan Ala said Turkey would be "free of its shackles” if the PKK truly laid down its weapons and disbanded.
If the PKK's leadership heeds its founder's appeal, which is not guaranteed, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would gain a historic opportunity to pacify and develop southern Turkey, where violence has killed thousands of people and devastated the regional economy.
“I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call,” Ocalan said in a letter made public by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM Party members.
