The Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) announcement that it would withdraw all its fighters from Türkiye to northern Iraq marks a significant step in the peace process between Kurdish militants and the Turkish state. When the group’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan, called on the PKK to disarm and dissolve in February, many doubted whether the outfit would honour his appeal. It has been waging an insurgency for decades. But in March, its executive committee declared that “none of our forces will take armed action unless attacked”. On May 12, the group announced its full dissolution, and that its demands could be met through “democratic politics”. Its fighters even held a symbolic weapons destruction ceremony. The group’s demands have changed over the years. An initial demand for an indepen

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