The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) 12th Congress Board issued the following statement: “The process initiated by Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s statement on February 27, and further shaped by his extensive work and multidimensional perspectives, culminated in the successful convening of our 12th Party Congress between May 5–7. 

Despite ongoing clashes, aerial and ground attacks, continued siege of our regions, and the KDP embargo, our congress was held securely under challenging conditions. Due to security concerns, it was conducted simultaneously in two different locations. With the participation of 232 delegates in total, the PKK 12th Congress discussed Leadership, Martyrs, Veterans, the Organizational Structure of the PKK and Armed Struggle, and Democratic Society Building, culminating in historic decisions marking the beginning of a new era for our Freedom Movement.

All activities under the PKK name have been concluded

The Extraordinary 12th Congress evaluated that the PKK’s struggle has dismantled the policies of denial and annihilation imposed on our people, bringing the Kurdish issue to a point where it can be resolved through democratic politics. It concluded that the PKK has fulfilled its historical mission. Based on this, the 12th Congress resolved to dissolve the PKK’s organizational structure and end the armed struggle, with the implementation process to be managed and led by Leader Apo [Abdullah Öcalan]. All activities conducted under the PKK name have therefore been concluded.

Our party, the PKK, emerged as a Kurdish freedom movement in opposition to the denial and annihilation policies rooted in the Treaty of Lausanne and the 1924 Constitution. Influenced by real socialism at its inception, it embraced the principle of national self-determination and carried out a legitimate, just struggle through armed resistance. The PKK was formed under conditions dominated by aggressive Kurdish denial, annihilation, genocide, and assimilation policies.

Since 1978, the PKK has conducted a freedom struggle aimed at securing recognition for Kurdish existence and establishing the Kurdish issue as a fundamental reality of Turkey. As a result of this successful struggle, our movement achieved a resurrection revolution for our people, becoming a symbol of hope and a dignified life for the peoples of the region.

During the 1990s, a period of major gains for our people, Turkish President Turgut Özal began seeking a political solution to the Kurdish issue. In response, Leader Apo declared a ceasefire on March 17, 1993, launching a new phase. However, the collapse of real socialism, the imposition of gang-like tactics on our war strategy, and the deep state’s elimination of Özal and his team sabotaged this initiative. The state intensified its denial and annihilation policies, escalating the war. Thousands of villages were evacuated and burned; millions of Kurds were displaced; tens of thousands were tortured and imprisoned; and thousands were killed under suspicious circumstances.

In response, the Freedom Movement grew both in size and capacity. Guerrilla warfare spread across Kurdistan and Turkey. The impact of the guerrilla struggle led the Kurdish people to rise in mass uprisings (serhildans), turning war into the primary option for both sides. The resulting mutual escalation of war could not be reversed, and Leader Apo’s efforts to solve the Kurdish issue through democratic and peaceful means ultimately failed."

Rebuilding Turkish-Kurdish relations is inevitable

The process entered a different phase with the international conspiracy of February 15, 1999. In this process, one of the main goals of the conspiracy, a Kurdish-Turkish war, was prevented thanks to the great sacrifices and efforts of Leader Apo. Despite being held in the İmralı torture and genocide system, he persisted in seeking a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue. For 27 years, Leader Apo has resisted the İmralı system of annihilation, nullifying the international conspiracy. In his struggle, he analyzed the male-dominated, power-driven statist system and developed a paradigm for a democratic, ecological, and women's freedom-oriented society. Thus, he materialized an alternative freedom system for our people, women, and oppressed humanity.

Leader Apo, by referring to the period before the Treaty of Lausanne and the 1924 Constitution, where Kurdish-Turkish relations became problematic, proposed a framework for resolving the Kurdish issue based on the Democratic Republic of Turkey and the concept of a Democratic Nation, founded on the idea of a Common Homeland and co-founding peoples. The Kurdish uprisings throughout the history of the Republic, the 1000-year Kurdish-Turkish dialectic, and 52 years of leadership struggle have shown that the Kurdish issue can only be resolved based on a Common Homeland and Equal Citizenship. Current developments in the Middle East within the scope of World War III also make the restructuring of Kurdish-Turkish relations inevitable.

Our people will understand the dissolution of the PKK and the end of armed struggle better than anyone and embrace the duties of this era

Our honorable people, who have joined the Leadership and PKK path for 52 years at great cost, resisting policies of denial, annihilation, genocide, and assimilation, will support the peace and democratic society process more consciously and organizedly. We firmly believe that our people will understand the decision to dissolve the PKK and end the method of armed struggle better than anyone and will embrace the responsibilities of the democratic struggle era based on building a democratic society. It is of vital importance that our people, led by women and youth, build their self-organizations in all areas of life, organize on the basis of self-sufficiency through their language, identity, and culture, become self-defensive in the face of attacks, and build a communal democratic society with a spirit of mobilization. On this basis, we believe that Kurdish political parties, democratic organizations, and opinion leaders will fulfill their responsibilities to advance Kurdish democracy and the democratic nationhood of the Kurds.

With the legacy of our history of freedom, struggle, and resistance, and the decisions of the PKK’s 12th Congress, the democratic political path will develop more strongly, and the future of our peoples will progress based on freedom and equality. The poor and working peoples, all faith groups, women and youth, workers, peasants, and all excluded segments will assert their rights and develop a common life in a just and democratic environment.

We call on everyone to join the peace and democratic society process

The decision of our Congress to dissolve the PKK and end the method of armed struggle offers a strong basis for lasting peace and a democratic solution. Implementing these decisions requires that Leader Apo lead and guide the process, that his right to democratic politics be recognized, and that solid, comprehensive legal guarantees be established. At this stage, it is essential that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey play its role with historical responsibility. Likewise, we call on the government, the main opposition party, all political parties represented in parliament, civil society organizations, religious and faith communities, democratic media outlets, opinion leaders, intellectuals, academics, artists, labor unions, women’s and youth organizations, and ecological movements to assume responsibility and join the peace and democratic society process.

The involvement of Turkey’s leftist-socialist forces, revolutionary structures, organizations, and individuals in the peace and democratic society process will elevate the struggle of peoples, women, and the oppressed to a new level. This will mean achieving the goals of the great revolutionaries whose last words were “Long live the brotherhood of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples and a fully independent Turkey!”

With Democratic Society Socialism representing a new phase in the peace and democratic society process and the struggle for socialism, the global democracy movement will advance, and a just and equal world will emerge. On this basis, we call on democratic public opinion, especially our comrades leading the Global Freedom Initiative, to expand international solidarity within the framework of the democratic modernity theory.

We call on international powers to acknowledge their responsibilities in the century-long genocide policies against our people, not to obstruct a democratic solution, and to contribute constructively to the process.

We announce the martyrdom of Ali Haydar Kaytan and Riza Altun

Our 12th PKK Congress, convened at the call of our leadership, has declared the martyrdom of Fuat-Ali Haydar Kaytan, one of our party’s leading cadres, who was martyred on July 3, 2018, and comrade Riza Altun, martyred on September 25, 2019. On this basis, it has recognized comrade Fuat-Ali Haydar Kaytan, one of the founding leading cadres of the PKK, as the symbol of “Loyalty to the Leader, Truth, and Sacred Life,” and comrade Riza Altun, one of Leader Apo’s first comrades, as the symbol of “Freedom Comradeship.” We dedicate our historic 12th Party Congress to these two great martyr comrades who have led us from the beginning of our Freedom Movement until today with their uninterrupted struggle. In their names, we renew our promise to all martyrs of the struggle and affirm our commitment to fulfilling the dreams of Peace and Democracy Martyr Comrade Sırrı Süreyya Önder.