Turkey to Disarm the Kurdistan Workers’ Party

Imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (pkk) leader Abdullah Ocalan has agreed to disarm his party, according to the director of the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Institute’s Turkey Program. Ocalan will publicly tell the pkk to “lay down arms” on February 15.

Agreement: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ally, Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli, recently met with Ocalan to discuss the disarmament agreement.

In the deal, Turkey will reportedly release Ocalan from prison and draft a new constitution that includes some Kurdish rights. In exchange, pkk-linked groups will integrate their forces with the Kurdish National Council and the Syrian Army.

U.S. out: It is unclear if these “pkk-linked groups” will include United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (sdf), but it is likely. Turkey often associates the sdf with the pkk and refers to them jointly as the pkk.

The U.S. backed the sdf as a means of opposing former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime. With Assad’s fall, America’s support can be pushed out and Turkey can get a better hold on its Kurdish rebels.

Turkey’s rise: The tides are changing in the Middle East. Turkey’s influence is prophesied to grow. But there is a greater power behind Turkey that is enabling this to happen.

To understand the dangers behind Turkey’s rise, read “Turkey’s Sacred Quest” in our February Trumpet issue.