Influential leader records message from prison, saying ‘care and sensitivity’ needed for peace process.

Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has announced the end of the group’s armed struggle against Turkiye, calling for a full shift to democratic politics.

The jailed leader relayed his message via a video recording dated June, which was aired by the PKK-aligned Firat News Agency on Wednesday, describing the shift as a “historic gain”.

“This represents a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law,” said Ocalan, who has been in prison since 1999, but remains a hugely influential figure among Kurds in Turkiye and beyond.

He said the process of voluntary disarmament of Kurdish PKK fighters and the creation of a Turkish parliamentary committee to oversee the peace process would be “crucial”.

“Care and sensitivity are essential,” he said, adding that details of the disarmament process would be “determined and implemented swiftly”.

Ocalan’s message was released just days before the first PKK disarmament ceremony in northern Iraq.

Back in May, the PKK had already announced it was disbanding after more than 40 years of armed struggle against the Turkish state.

The announcement came two months after Ocalan, also known as “Appo” – Kurdish for Uncle – called on the group to disarm in February.

For most of its history, the PKK has been labelled a “terrorist” group by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States.

Ocalan was born to a poor Kurdish farming family in 1948, in Omerli, Sanliurfa, a Kurdish-majority part of Turkiye.

It was after studying political science at Ankara University that he became politically active, founding the PKK in 1978.

Six years later, the group launched a separatist rebellion against Turkiye under his command.

More than 40,000 people were killed between 1984 and 2024, with thousands of Kurds fleeing the violence in southeastern Turkiye into cities further north.