Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters, who reportedly withdrew from Turkey with their weapons, stand to attention during a ceremony in the Qandil area of northern, Iraq, Oct 26, 2025
A KURDISH militant group has announced it is withdrawing its fighters from Turkey to Iraq as part of an ongoing peace effort with the Turkish government.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) made the announcement in northern Iraq, months after a symbolic disarmament ceremony in which some members laid down their weapons.
The group has waged an armed struggle in Turkey since the 1980s, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths.
Sabri Ok, from the Kurdistan Communities Union, said the withdrawal aimed to “avoid clashes or provocations” and was approved by imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
He urged Ankara to adopt “legal and political approaches” to support the process.
The move came after Mr Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm.
PKK spokesman Zagros Hiwar said the step showed the group’s “assertiveness and seriousness” but accused the Turkish government of failing to make progress, including improving Ocalan’s prison conditions or allowing Kurdish to be spoken in parliament.
A Turkish government spokesman called the move a “concrete result” of efforts to create a “terror-free Turkey.”
