PKK announces dissolution and end of armed struggle

Istanbul (Turkey) - The banned Kurdistan Workers' Party ( PKK ) has announced its dissolution and the end of its decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state, according to a report.

Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan (76) had called on people to lay down their arms and disband. (archive picture)
Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan (76) had called on people to lay down their arms and disband. (archive picture)  © Lefteris Pitarakis/AP/dpa

"The twelfth congress of the PKK has decided to dissolve the organizational structure of the PKK and end the method of armed struggle," the PKK said in a statement distributed by the pro-Kurdish news agency ANF on Monday morning.

Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned for 26 years on the prison island of Imrali off the coast of Istanbul, called on the PKK to lay down its arms and disband at the end of February.