Kurdish militants begin to pull out of Turkey: PKK

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) says its militants have started withdrawing from Turkey to settle in bases in northern Iraq.

The Wednesday pullout is part of a peace initiative agreed upon by Ankara and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan earlier this year.

Gultan Kisinak, who chairs Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), said the first group of the militants started to move toward Iraqi border on Wednesday.

Ocalan, who was captured by Turkish security forces in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in 1999, is serving a life sentence at Imrali Island prison on charges of leading the PKK in its armed campaign against Ankara.

The PKK said in a statement on Tuesday that the withdrawal would “continue in a planned and organized way.”

The groups warned Ankara against “provocations and clashes” which it stated could hamper the retreat. It also asked independent rights groups to take part in the process by observing the withdrawal, saying this could contribute to a safe operation.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.

Several thousand PKK militants are believed to be living in Turkey, while the group’s armed wing is based in northern Iraq.