Turkey's spy chief heads for Iraq as PKK militants prepare to disarm
The planned weapons handover marks a major step in Turkey’s quiet bid to end the PKK’s decades-long insurgency and secure Kurdish political support for constitutional reform.
Turkey’s ongoing initiative to end the more than four-decade insurgency waged by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels is gaining momentum, with the country’s spymaster, Ibrahim Kalin, scheduled to travel to Baghdad on Tuesday ahead of a planned July 11 ceremony in which some PKK members are expected to lay down their weapons. The event, the first of its kind, is due to be held in the Kurdish-administered part of Iraq. “Some big names” will be present with “quality being prioritized over quantity,” a PKK source speaking not for attribution told Al-Monitor.
Part of Friday’s ceremony will involve the PKK physically burning some of its weapons, the PKK source said. Erdogan “needed a striking visual to show the Turkish public before taking the necessary steps to keep the process going,” the source said. The Turkish and other media was expected to cover the event live from Sulaimaniyah. However, the PKK announced that due to security reasons reporters would no longer be able to attend.
The move follows the rebels’ May 12 announcement that they had ended their armed campaign against Ankara for Kurdish rights in response to their imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan’s earlier calls to disband. Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) is spearheading the so-called terror-free Turkey effort.
Kalin is expected to meet with Iraq’s top leaders to discuss the logistics of the planned weapons handover, which will serve as a template for future handovers. While estimates vary, there are believed to be at least 5,000 PKK fighters based in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, stretching from Iran east all the way west to Syria.
