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What Outlawed PKK Laying Down Arms Means for Turkey and the Kurds

Ethnic Kurds hold a poster of Abdullah Ocalan during Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on March 21. — Ethnic Kurds hold a poster of Abdullah Ocalan during Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on March 21.
Photographer: Sedat Suna/Getty Images

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By Beril Akman and Selcan Hacaoglu

May 12, 2025 at 3:17 AM EDT

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the four decades since Kurdish separatist group the PKK took up arms against the Turkish government.

On May 12, the group announced it would lay down its weapons and disband, heeding a call from its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.