The PKK has withdrawn from four cave bases in northern Iraq close to the Turkish border, Turkish security sources said on Monday, October 12, in what officials described as a further step in the process aimed at ending the group's decades-long armed campaign.
According to the sources, militants vacated the Hebat, Yajk, Sabri and Sason shelters in the Baze area of the Metina region on October 8. The mountainous area has for years served as a base and transit route for the group, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union.
Part of the 'terror-free Türkiye' initiative
The withdrawal is linked to the government's "terror-free Türkiye" initiative, under which the PKK announced last year that it would dissolve and lay down arms. In August, the Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration, which sets out a legal framework for the process, was published in the Official Gazette.
Speaking in the southeastern city of Gaziantep on October 12, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said that some caves and weapons in Metina had been handed over to state institutions, calling it an important step.
Kurtulmuş explained that before legal measures concerning PKK members can be applied, security agencies must confirm that the group has disarmed and dissolved, after which a National Security Council announcement would follow. He added that a board chaired by the vice president would oversee the process together with a parliamentary monitoring committee, and called for complete disarmament alongside steps to strengthen the rule of law and democratic standards.
Support from Erbil
On the same day, Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, voiced support for the process at a forum organised by the Middle East Research Institute in Erbil. He described it as serious, saying concerns about its pace were understandable because the issue could not be resolved overnight.
Barzani said the process may not be moving as quickly as hoped but was heading in the right direction, and added that Erbil was ready to contribute.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984, and the conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives. In recent years much of the fighting shifted to northern Iraq, where Türkiye has conducted cross-border operations against the group's mountain hideouts.
Sources
Photo: R3YBOl / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
