The Albany Gazette - Kurdish PKK fighters destroy weapons at key ceremony

The ceremony marks a turning point in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to draw a line under one of the region's longest-running conflicts.

Analysts say the PKK's military weakness makes disarmament a face-saving move, while allowing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to claim victory over a decades-long insurgency.

At the brief ceremony, which took place in a cave in the mountains of northern Iraq, a first batch of 30 militants were seen burning their weapons, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

"Thirty PKK fighters, four of whom were commanders, burned their weapons," said the correspondent who was present at the cave near the city of Sulaimaniyah, in the autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq's north.

Throughout the morning, cars could be seen pulling up to the Casene cave, a symbolic location that once housed a Kurdish printing press, Firat news agency said.

Founded by Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a string of bloody attacks on Turkish soil that sparked a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives.

But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution, saying it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence in Turkey since 1999.

"As a gesture of goodwill, a number of PKK fighters, who took part in fighting Turkish forces in recent years, will destroy or burn their weapons in a ceremony," a PKK commander told AFP on July 1, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Tensions rose ahead of the ceremony as two drones were shot down overnight near Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga bases, one in Sulaimaniyah, and the other in Kirkuk, according to officials who did not say was behind the attacks.

No casualties were reported.

- 'Power of politics' -

At the ceremony were officials representing Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdistan region, veteran Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Iraqi and Kurdistan interior ministries, an AFP correspondent said.

Also present were several lawmakers from Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party and a handful of journalists, with Turkish media saying representatives from Ankara's intelligence agency were also there.

The start of the PKK's disarmament is a key step in the months-long indirect negotiations between Ocalan and Ankara that began in October with Erdogan's blessing, and have been facilitated by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party.

"I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I urge you to put this principle into practice," Ocalan said in a video message released on Wednesday, pledging that the disarmament process would be "implemented swiftly".

Erdogan said peace efforts with the Kurds would gain momentum after the PKK began laying down its weapons.

"The process will gain a little more speed when the terrorist organisation starts to implement its decision to lay down arms," he said at the weekend.

"We hope this auspicious process will end successfully as soon as possible, without mishaps or sabotage attempts," he added on Wednesday.

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 an appeal on February 27 by Ocalan, who has spent the past 26 years in solitary confinement on Imrali prison island near Istanbul.

(Y.Harris--TAG)