Daijiworld Media Network - Ankara

Ankara, May 13: In a major geopolitical shift, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — a leftist militant group that fought a 40-year insurgency against Turkey — has announced its disarmament following months of negotiations with Ankara. The move, if implemented effectively, could end decades of conflict and significantly reshape power dynamics across the Middle East.

The announcement comes in the wake of escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, whose recent missile and drone exchanges had raised alarm across the region. While Turkey publicly called for calm, the strategic instability appears to have prompted Ankara to pre-emptively neutralise domestic and regional threats, including the PKK.

Strategic Win for Turkey

“This is a major strategic win for Turkey, with deep implications for both Syria and Iraq,” said Dr. Andreas Krieg, a Middle East security expert at King’s College London. He noted that Turkey’s regional clout has grown, especially as Iran and Israel face mounting challenges.

The PKK’s disarmament not only signals a potential domestic peace breakthrough but also removes a major lever that rival powers, particularly Iran and Israel, could have used against Turkey.

Iran Loses a Strategic Card

Though Iran’s relationship with the PKK has been historically fraught — notably via the PKK’s Iranian offshoot PJAK — the group has at times served Tehran's interests, especially near the Iraq-Turkey-Iran border. Units like the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), which have indirect Iranian backing, now face uncertain futures.

With Bashar al-Assad's fall, Hezbollah under Israeli pressure, and the PKK neutralised, Iran's 'land corridor' to the Mediterranean has effectively collapsed, significantly diminishing its regional reach.

Israeli-Kurdish Ties in Question

In contrast, Israel once supported Turkey’s fight against the PKK but relations soured under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Recently, Israel has expressed solidarity with Kurdish groups, viewing them as natural allies against Iran and Turkey.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in November had called for closer ties with Kurdish communities, while Israeli outlets reported contacts with the SDF, a PKK-linked group in Syria.

Turkey countered by brokering a deal between the SDF and Syria's new central government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, sidelining any push for Kurdish autonomy — a move backed by PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan himself.

A New Era

If verified and sustained, the PKK’s disarmament may usher in an era of social peace within Turkey and simultaneously bolster Ankara’s regional leverage — especially as Iran retreats and Israel recalibrates its regional strategy.

“This outcome increases Turkish influence while simultaneously disrupting both Israeli and Iranian proxy networks,” said Krieg. “The Levant's strategic landscape has been irreversibly altered.”