Khaberni - A senior leader in the Kurdistan Workers' Party, in an interview with Agence France-Presse inside the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq, confirmed that the party "will not take any further steps" in the peace process with Ankara.
The leader, Amed Malazgirt, emphasized that the next phase depends on the steps that the Turkish government will take, primarily the release of the party leader Abdullah Ocalan and the constitutional recognition of the Kurdish people.
Malazgirt stated that the party "has implemented all the steps called for by leader Apo (Ocalan)", and from now on "waits for the Turkish state to take the necessary steps", confirming that the party "will not use weapons against the Turkish state".
This stance coincides with a series of historic steps taken by the party over the past two years, which included dissolving itself in May 2024 and holding ceremonies to discard and burn weapons in northern Iraq, then withdrawing its forces from Turkish territories in October, and finally withdrawing from the Zab border area in November. These developments come amid the continued presence of Turkish military bases in northern Iraq for 25 years and repeated military operations against the party's locations.
For her part, the leader Sharda Mazloom Kabar said, "The freedom of the Kurdish people is linked to the freedom of leader Ocalan", confirming that "the path to freedom passes through ending his isolation".
In Turkey, Ankara had formed a parliamentary committee last August to prepare the legal framework for the peace process, which includes mechanisms for transitioning the party fighters into political activity and determining the future of Ocalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999 on Imrali Island. Recently, members of the committee visited Ocalan in prison for the first time in a meeting that the parliament's presidency said had "positive results".
