Kurdish PKK militants announce decision to dissolve after decades of conflict with Turkey

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said on Monday it would dissolve itself, according to media close to the militant separatist group, in what would be a historic move after decades of conflict with Turkey that have killed tens of thousands of people. “The 12th Congress of the PKK decided to dissolve the organizational structure of the PKK and to end the armed struggle method,” the group said in a statement, according to the pro-Kurdish news outlet Firat News Agency. It added that the “practical process” of dissolution would be managed by their imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and that they have “ended the work carried out under the name of the PKK.” For almost five decades, Turkey has been at war with the PKK, founded by Ocalan in 1978. Much of the fighting has focused on the group’s desire to establish an independent Kurdish state in the country’s southeast. But in recent years the group has called for more autonomy within Turkey instead. In March, the PKK declared an immediate ceasefire after Ocalan called on fighters to lay down their arms and dissolve the group.