The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced Monday that it will disband and disarm, ending 40 years of conflict with Turkey.
The announcement follows a February call by PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, for the group to hold a congress and formally dissolve. According to Öcalan, the PKK has outlived its original mission.
In March, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire with Turkey amid political signals from Turkey’s ruling coalition suggesting the PKK leader could be granted parole if the group disbanded.
The group, which had been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the U.S., has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claiming tens of thousands of lives.