Jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan has called on his militant group to disarm as part of a fresh bid to end a decades-long conflict with the Turkish state.
In a message from his prison on an island off Istanbul, Ocalan said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) should hold a congress and formally agree to disband.
Ocalan told members to “lay their arms” and said the PKK “must dissolve itself”, according to a message relayed by pro-Kurdish politicians who visited him on Thursday.
His intervention comes amid a new effort to establish peace between the militant group and the Turkish state.
The peace bid was initiated in October by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli.
As part of the deal, Ocalan could be granted parole if the PKK were to renounce violence and disband.
Ocalan, 75, continues to have significant influence over the PKK, despite having been imprisoned in 1999 after he was convicted of treason.
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The PKK was founded by Ocalan in 1978 and has led an insurgency in Turkey’s south-east region since 1984.
Considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies, previous peace efforts with the PKK have ended in failure.
Despite the latest peace efforts, Mr Erdogan’s government has widened a crackdown on the opposition, arresting journalists and politicians.
