ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - There have been no clashes between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region in the last two days amid a unilateral ceasefire by the PKK, a conflict monitor said on Tuesday.
“For more than 40 hours, the Turkish military has not carried out any ground operations in the Kurdistan Region,” Kamaran Osman from the Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a human rights organization that monitors Turkey’s operations in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw.
On Saturday, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire with Turkey, stating it agrees with the contents of leader Abdullah Ocalan’s recent letter that called on the group to disarm and disband, but set a physical meeting with their jailed leader as a precondition to any successful peace process.
Ocalan’s letter has sparked hope for a resolution to the nearly four-decade-long conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which has claimed over 40,000 lives.
According to CPT data, 183 villages have been abandoned and an additional 602 are in danger of being evacuated because of fighting between Turkey and the PKK.
Osman said that the last aerial bombardment by Turkey was on Sunday.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now calls for autonomy. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey. It has bases in the Kurdistan Region’s mountains.
