The Kurds have finally given in to Erdogan

00:00 07:58

Paul Wood has narrated this article for you to listen to.

All wars end, one way or another. One of the longest wars in the Middle East, between Turkey and Kurdish separatists, may finally be over. After 40 years of bitter struggle, the Kurdistan Workers’ party, the PKK, has declared that it will disarm and disband. It’s an achievement, of a sort, for the PKK’s imprisoned founder, Abdullah Ocalan: he might become a free man. It’s a triumph for Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan: he might become President for life. The Kurds have adjusted to a new reality in the region. From Ankara to Riyadh, the chess pieces are shifting and the board might end up looking very different. This might even be accomplished without blood being spilled.

The PKK is designated as a terrorist group by Britain and many other western nations. The announcement that it would give up its guns was made at its party congress this week. Middle-aged men and women stood in rows wearing dark-green camouflage uniforms with the Kurds’ traditional broad sash at the waist. They looked dejected – vaguely at attention, but with shoulders slumped. They were acting in the knowledge that the PKK had suffered a military defeat, no longer able to mount effective attacks inside Turkey. There have been ceasefires and peace talks before, but this time the PKK is promising to transform into a purely political organisation. The question is whether they’ll carry with them the fighters who remain in mountain camps in Iraq and bases in Syria. Will there be a Real PKK?