Militants from the PKK will begin laying down their weapons at a disarmament ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan in early July, the Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported on Monday, APA reports citing Al Arabiya.
The move comes just six weeks after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced it was ending more than four decades of guerrilla warfare in a conflict that claimed over 40,000 lives.
Turkey’s Kurdish minority is hoping the PKK’s decision will pave the way for a political settlement with Ankara that will herald a new openness to the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey’s population of 85 million.
Citing two sources in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Rudaw said the move would be both a “trust-building step” and a “goodwill gesture” to advance the reconciliation process with Turkey.
According to the sources, the ceremony would take place in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan’s second-biggest city.
Most of the PKK’s fighters have spent the past decade in the mountains of northern Iraq, where Turkey also maintains military bases and has carried out frequent operations against Kurdish fighters.
“Between July 3 and 10, a group of PKK members, probably numbering between 20 and 30, will lay down their weapons in a ceremony to be held in Sulaimaniyah,” Rudaw said.
