ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United Nations on Monday praised the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) withdrawal of fighters from Turkish territory, describing it as a step toward the “peaceful resolution” of the four-decade conflict between the Kurdish group and Ankara.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told Rudaw that the UN chief is “following very closely the progress made regarding the PKK and its decision to disarm and we take note of the announcement by the PKK that it's withdrawing its forces from Turkey to Iraq.
“The decision, if implemented, would represent another important step towards the peaceful resolution of this long-standing conflict,” he said, urging all parties to act in good faith toward its implementation.
The PKK on Sunday began withdrawing all its fighters from Turkey, marking the most significant step yet in its peace process with Ankara.
“Based on the 12th Congress decisions, we are carrying out the withdrawal of all our forces within Turkey’s borders… to the Medya Defense Areas, based on Leader Abdullah Ocalan’s approval,” the group said in a statement read during a press conference near its headquarters on Mount Qandil.
The conference, held in a remote Qandil village in the Kurdistan Region, featured 25 armed PKK fighters - including three commanders and eight women - who had just crossed from Turkey.
While the group did not specify the total number withdrawing, observers estimate between 200 and 300 combatants are involved, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The pullout follows a February call by imprisoned PKK leader Ocalan urging his followers to dissolve the organization and lay down arms.
The Kurdish rebel group formally renounced armed struggle in May and, in July, symbolically burned a cache of weapons in the Kurdistan Region’s eastern Sulaimani province.
Turkey, which has fought the PKK since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed about 40,000 lives - mostly Kurdish fighters - has welcomed the move.
Namo Abdulla contributed to this report.