Outlawed Kurdish group the PKK, which has waged a 40-year insurgency against Turkey, has announced it is laying down its arms and disbanding.
The move followed a call in February by the group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, for it to disband.
The PKK insurgency initially aimed to create an independent homeland for Kurds, who account for about 20% of Turkey’s population. But it has since moved away from its separatist goals, focusing instead on more autonomy and greater Kurdish rights.
More than 40,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began.
The PKK – which is banned as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US – said it has “completed its historical mission” and would “end the method of armed struggle.”
From now on, the Kurdish issue “can be resolved through democratic politics”, the group said in a statement published on the PKK-affiliated news agency ANF.
In February, Ocalan, 76, called on his movement to lay down its arms and dissolve itself. The PKK leader has been in solitary confinement in prison on an island in the Sea of Marmara, south-west of Istanbul, since 1999.
Ocalan wrote a letter from prison in February saying “there is no alternative to democracy in the pursuit and realisation of a political system. Democratic consensus is the fundamental way.”
It is unclear what Ocalan and his supporters will get in return for disbanding but there is speculation that he may be paroled.
Kurdish politicians will be hoping for a new political dialogue, and a pathway towards greater Kurdish rights.
Both sides had reasons to do a deal now.
The PKK has been hit hard by the Turkish military in recent years, and regional changes have made it harder for them and their affiliates to operate in Iraq and Syria.
President Erdogan needs the support of pro Kurdish political parties if he is to be able to run again in Turkey’s next presidential election, due in 2028.
The decision to disband was an important step towards a “terror-free Turkey”, and the process would be monitored by state institutions, a spokesperson for President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party said, according to Reuters news agency.
UN Secretary General António Guterres welcomed the decision, saying that if the decision by the PKK was implemented, it would mark an important step towards peace.
Brussels urged “all parties to seize the moment”, while Syria’s top diplomat, Asaad al-Shaibani called it a “pivotal moment” for the “stability of our region as a whole”, the AFP news agency reported.
Winthrop Rodgers, from the international affairs think tank Chatham House, said it would take “a major democratic transition by Turkey” to accommodate demands from Kurdish political parties.
There has been “some goodwill” from some Turkish leaders in recent months, Mr Rodgers said, which allowed the PKK disbandment to play out.
He added: “But whether that extends to the major changes needed to ensure full Kurdish participation in politics and society is far less clear.
“In a lot of ways, the ball is in Turkey’s court.”
