Highlights:
October 9, 2015 Friday- Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) announced that they are ready for a ceasefire with the Turkish authorities following 3-months of deadly violence and bloodshed.
The PKK fighters violated a truce agreed in March 2013 in July 2015 following accusations leveled on Ankara of collaborating with Islamic State in Syria.
Analysis:
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has called for a renewed ceasefire with the Turkish Authorities following almost 3 months of deadly violence. PKK through one of its leaders announced their seeking a renewal of the ceasefire agreement from the fighters’ headquarters in Northern Iraq.
PKK was established in 1984 with the sole aim of fighting for autonomy and greater rights for the Kurdish population both in Iraq and Turkey. They declared a ceasefire which the upheld up to July on 2015 when they accused the Turkish government of collaborating with the Islamic State in Syria.
The fresh wave of violence that broke in July has claimed the deaths of over 140 security officers and hundreds of the PKK fighters and cumulatively the conflict between the government and PKK has claimed at least 40,000 lives.
The PKK however warned of dire consequences in the event that the Turkish government failed to stop its military campaign agree to the ceasefire talks. PKK has expressed frustration in Ankara who has failed to honor democratic and political dialogue with them.
PKK leaders have defended their stand saying they have only fought the government as a self-defense tactical response to the war waged on them by Turkey.
Summary:
The ceasefire call is very strategic as Turkey prepares to go the polls in November 1st that are expected to be an easy win for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) purported to be the PKK’s political wing.
In the recent past they have actively fought the Daesh in Iraq and Syria in its cause to represent and protect the interests of the Kurdish population. The call for the ceasefire by the PKK is viewed as its first attempts towards the reversal of the International community decision to list PKK as a terrorist organization.
