PKK Senior Figures Urge Ankara to Remove 'Obstacles' Blocking Peace Process

Two senior figures from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) held a rare public press conference urging Turkish authorities to remove what they described as 'obstacles' blocking progress in the peace initiative one year after the PKK announced its dissolution and ceasefire. The PKK leaders stated that their organization had fulfilled its commitments — declaring a unilateral ceasefire in March 2025, with the leadership council voting overwhelmingly for disbandment in May 2025 — but that Ankara had not taken corresponding steps on political and legal reforms, the release of imprisoned Kurdish politicians (including jailed HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş), or the transfer of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan from İmralı Island to house arrest. The Turkish government has maintained that it will consider further steps only after full, verifiable PKK disarmament. The impasse reflects a fundamental sequencing dispute: Turkey demands disarmament first; the PKK demands parallel political concessions.