Dr Anwar Gargash hails PKK leader's call to move away from violence

Diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Mohamed hails 'courageous decision'

Dr Anwar Gargash, pictured, was responding to PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan's call for the group to lay down its weapons. Victor Besa / The National

Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Mohamed, has praised the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for calling for the group to lay down its weapons.

Jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan said the PKK and its “national liberation war strategy have come to an end”, in a video message dated June 19 and released on Wednesday.

Ocalan, whose group is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union, has been detained in a prison on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara, south of Istanbul, since his capture by Turkish security forces in 1999.

“The announcement by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to end the 'armed struggle' and shift to constitutional and legal action is a courageous decision that reflects a profound rational review,” said Mr Gargash, in a post on social media platform X.

“Our region is in bad need of such reviews to learn the lessons of the experience, avoid the repetition of mistakes and open new paths that serve the interest of the peoples and the regional stability.”

Ocalan founded the PKK in the 1970s. The group waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state for decades in an attempt to secure greater rights for the country's Kurdish minority. Around one-fifth of Turkey's population is ethnically Kurdish.

The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people on both sides and the PKK became Ankara's number one security priority.

Ocalan first called on PKK members to disarm and dissolve the group in February, in a move that opened the way to end one of the Middle East’s most intractable conflicts. At the time, his message was read out by members of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish political party, the People’s Democracy and Equality Party (DEM).