Even after burning of a small part, Weapons PKK continues to be distrust between Kurds and Turks

For weeks it had been looked like the first concrete step of the Kurdish movement PKK, which had announced in May of this year to give up his armed fight against Turkey. On Friday there was finally the first modest gesture of goodwill: thirty PKK fighters, partly women, threw their guns and patterns in the Northern Iraqi mountains on a fire, while colleagues and Turkish officials watched.

Turkish President Erdogan announced on Saturday in a beforehand as ‘historical’ Speech to supporters in Ankara That with this step – no matter how small – “a new page has been opened in history”. According to him, the process that has to put an end to the scourge of terrorism has begun with this. “The doors of a large, powerful Turkey have been thrown open wide,” he also said, words that many Kurds will not vote happy.

Moreover, it is disappointing for the Turkish Kurds that Erdogan again did not report concessions in exchange for the disarmament and lifting of the PKK. He did confirm that there will be a parliamentary committee that will investigate how the peace process between PKK and Turkey, also on a legal level, can be shaped.

Release

In the weapon burning in Northern Iraq, about fifty kilometers from the Iraqi-Kurdish city of Suleimaniya, Bese demanded Hozat A commander who threw weapons in the fire that the PKK demands the release of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and of other prisoners Kurdish leaders. In addition, she said she wanted security guarantees for the disarmed fighters and reforms that make more education in Kurdish possible.

“Very small steps are going,” says Wladimir van Wilgenburg, a Dutch journalist and analyst who follows Kurdish developments from Erbil in Northern Iraq. “Both sides do not trust each other yet. It is a very long process that will not be completed within a few months.”

Zoom in

In the meantime, the Turks want the PKK to get along with his disarmament. According to Iraqi sources, this process could already be completed in September. Also PKK leader Öcalan (76), who is a life sentence in Turkey, also enjoys a lot of authority in its own circle, cried in a video message Last week explicitly on the disarmament to continue. “I believe in the power of politics and social peace and not in that of weapons,” he said. It was the first time in 26 years that such images of Öcalan were publicly seen.

However, many observers way to end the conflict through negotiations. Even in 2000, shortly after he was abducted by the Turks and imprisoned, Öcalan already made a similar call. “He then ordered a dozen fighters from prison to return to Turkey and surrender to indicate how much he was serious to make peace with Turkey,” writes the American Kurdenspecialist Aliza Marcus for questions from NRC. “That did not end well. The fighters were imprisoned and a few years later the PKK resumed the fight.” Even in 2015, peace negotiations were out of nothing.

This time there may be more reason for some optimism. Failure of the peace process with the Turkish Kurds could also stir up new unrest among the Syrian Kurds. And President Erdogan would not be thanked by the new Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, with whom the Turkish president currently has an excellent relationship.

Erdogan can also use peace with the Kurds for domestic reasons. The population – not only the Kurds but also the Turks – is the war tired after more than forty years and around 40,000 deaths. If Erdogan plays the game handy, he may also be able to win support from Kurdish parties for adjustments to the Constitution that would enable him to stay longer as president. After two installments as president, Erdogan could no longer remain under the current constitution, unless new elections are being held in the short term.

Also read: Kurds yearns end to Turkish repression after PKK’s cancellation decision: ‘The Turks have never considered us full -fledged people

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