The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, stated during a video press conference on February 27, 2025, that the call made by the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, to lay down arms and dissolve his party was positive; however, his forces are not concerned about it as it was directed at the PKK.
Abdi added during the press conference, “Mr. Öcalan’s call was not for us; it was for the Workers’ Party.”
He pointed out that reaching a ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK could play “a positive role in our region as the peace process advances.”
In a post on “X” (formerly Twitter), Abdi welcomed what he described as “the historic declaration from leader Abdullah Öcalan, calling for an end to the war in Turkey and paving the way for a peaceful political process.”
He added that this declaration “is an opportunity to build peace and a key to opening correct and constructive relations in the region.”
Abdi’s comments came just hours after remarks by Saleh Muslim, the founder of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) close to the PKK, and one of the founders of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), stated that the leaders of the PKK would not implement Öcalan’s call to lay down arms without further analysis.
He told the Saudi news channel “Al-Arabiya” that “there will be no need for arms if we are allowed to work politically (..) if the reasons for carrying arms are removed, we will lay them down.”
Muslim emphasized that the need to carry arms still persists “especially with the repeated attacks from Turkey.”
On Thursday, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party called on his armed supporters to lay down their arms and dissolve the armed group, which is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, the United States, and Europe.
A delegation from the Turkish-Kurdish Democratic Party read the statement on behalf of Öcalan after visiting him in the Imrali prison, where he has been held for more than 25 years.
Öcalan’s message stated, “The Kurdistan Workers’ Party was established in the twentieth century. The ground on which the Workers’ Party was formed was after two world wars.”
He added in the message, read in Kurdish and translated into Turkish, that “the Workers’ Party needs to dissolve itself.”
The PKK had not commented on their founder’s call at the time of this news release, but a member of its executive committee, Murat Karayılan, stated on February 6 that abandoning arms requires holding a conference where decisions would be made, adding that Abdullah Öcalan could call for such a conference, but arms could not be laid down based on “just a call via video.”
He clarified in an interview with the party-affiliated “Sterk-Tv,” translated by Kurdish media, “We are a movement that includes tens of thousands of fighters, and they did not come here for the money, so the matter cannot be resolved by cutting salaries and sending them back home.”