WASHINGTON DC - The US Department of State said on Friday that it would welcome any decision by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to lay down arms after the jailed PKK leader called on his followers to abandon their armed struggle.
"We've seen the reports on Abdullah Ocalan’s statement. The United States considers the PKK a Foreign Terrorist Organization, so any move to lay down arms and remove that threat is a welcome step," a spokesperson for the US State Department told Rudaw in an email.
Ocalan’s message, which came in a letter that was read out by the delegation that visited him at Imrali prison on Thursday, called on the PKK to “convene your congress and decide for integration with the state and society; all groups should lay down their arms and the PKK should dissolve itself.”
Several Western and regional countries as well as leaders and politicians within Turkey and the Kurdistan Region have welcomed Ocalan’s message and expressed hope that it will bring peace to the region.
Ocalan has been held since 1999 at the island prison of Imrali with limited contact with the outside world, including his family and lawyers.
PKK leaders on the ground have not publicly commented on Ocalan’s message, but an umbrella group that it is part of, the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), said on Friday that Ocalan has their “full support.”
