site.btaOcalan Urges PKK to Lay Down Arms, Government Expects Them to Heed His Call

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the PKK called on the group to lay down its arms. A statement by him was read on Thursday at a news conference in Istanbul by a delegation from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), who visited Ocalan at the island prison where he is serving a life sentence.

"As any contemporary community or party that has not been forcibly dissolved would voluntarily do, I urge you to convene your congress, integrate with the state and society, and make a decision: all groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself," Öcalan said in his statement.

The delegation to the prison included lawmakers from the party, known for its links to the terrorist group. The government in Ankara said that Turkiye will be "free from the chains" when PKK lay down arms and is disbanded, to use the words of Efkan Ala, Vice Chairman of the Justice and Development Party, as quoted by Turkish media outlets.

Ala's was the first reaction by a representative of the ruling party. He said that the government expects PKK to heed Ocalan's call.

PKK has been engaged in armed struggle with the Turkish state since 1984 and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara, the EU and the US.