For more than four decades, Turkey has fought an armed insurrection by the Kurdistan workers’ party, or PKK, a militant group that says that it seeks greater rights for the Kurdish minority of the country.
More than 40,000 people were killed in the conflict, in both attacks of the PKK to military and civil objectives and Turkish military operations against the militants and communities that host them. Turkey, the United States and other countries consider the group a terrorist organization.
Now, the founder of the group, Abdullah Ocalan, has invited Kurdish fighters to lay the arms, although it is not clear how effective its reason will be and what, if nothing else, the Turkish government offers the group in exchange for ending the fighting.
Here’s what to know about PKK and his conflict with Turkey.
Who are the pkk?
The group launched an armed insurrection against the Turkish state in the early 80s, originally looking for independence for the Kurds, which are believed to constitute about 15 % or more of the population of Türkiye.
Starting from the mountains in Eastern and Southern Türkiye, the PKK fighters attacked the Turkish military bases and the police stations, causing harsh responses of the government. Later, the conflict spread to other parts of the country, with devastating PKK bombings in the Turkish cities that killed many civilians.
In 1999, Turkey captured Ocalan condemned him to lead an armed terrorist organization. He received a death sentence that was subsequently commuted to prison. It remains venerated by the members of the group.
From its imprisonment, Ocalan has moved its ideology from the secession and to Kurdish rights within Turkey.
In the last decade, the Turkish soldiers have unrelated to the forces of the PKK from the main Kurdish cities in South -eastern Turkey, while they used drones to kill its leaders and fighters, hindering its ability to organize and carry out attacks.
The conflict has been low for years for years, although occasional PKK attacks have revived the fears of a wider conflict. Last year, a small team of its militants rushed into the headquarters of an aerospace company managed by the state armed with rifles and explosives and killed five employees before the security forces resumed control.
Who are the Kurds?
The Kurds are an ethnic group of about 40 million people – there are very different estimates – concentrated in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Türkiye.
More dialects of Curi speak, a language not directly related to Turkish or Arabic. Most are Sunni Muslims.
The Kurds were promised their nation from the world powers after the First World War, but this was never granted. There have been Kurdish rebellions in various countries in subsequent generations and the Kurds have faced the state suppression of their language and culture.
In Syria, the Syrian democratic forces led by Curdi, whose leaders have roots in the PKK and follow the ideology of Ocalan, controls the north-eastern part of the country. They have been supported for years by the United States and played a crucial role in the defeat of the Islamic State, but the fall of the strong Syrian Bashar al-Assad in December left their future status unclear. They are colliding with the Syrian rebels supported by the Turkish and remain outside the control of the new Syrian government in Damascus.
From the Gulf War of 1991, the northern region of Iraq most of Kurdish has been semi -automoma. Pkk’s leadership is now home to the Qandil mountains of the northern Iraq. In recent years, Turkey has attacked the group and the militias affiliated in Iraq and Syria while pressing the Iraqi government to expel it.
How did previous peace efforts do?
Multiple efforts have been made to freeze or put an end to the conflict of Türkiye-Pkk, starting from a ceased fire in 1993. But everyone has collapsed, often leading to a greater bloodshed.
Violence slipped and turned off until a new tour of peace talks in 2011 began. At that time, the agents of the Turkish intelligence met with Mr. Ocalan in prison to map a plan for his fighters to be disarmed and Kurdish politicians transported messages between him and his collaborators in the north of Iraq.
But the process collapsed in mid -2015, with each side blamed the other for the breakdown. Followed one of the most fatal phases of the conflict, with battles launched in the cities of the South -East of Türkiye that killed more than 7000 people, according to the International Crisis Group.
Will this time be different?
Although Turkey still considers PKK a separatist terrorist group that does not represent the Kurdish people, has recognized some historical violations of Kurdish rights and expanded the margins for the Kurdish language and culture.
He authorized television and radio broadcasts in Curda language and allowed the Kurdish language as an elective course in some schools.
At the same time, however, the government has removed more than 150 Kurdish mayors elected by their places since 2015, according to the Equality and Democracy Party of the peoples, which politically represents the pro-Curon movement and has seats in Parliament.
Most of the removed mayors have been accused and some convicted crimes related to the PKK
Human Rights Watch has defined the removal of politically motivated Kurdish mayors and a violation of voters’ rights.