Kurdish PKK fighters to start laying down arms 'in coming days'

A group of Kurdish fighters are set to lay down their weapons “in the coming few days” in the next stage of a long-awaited peace process with Turkey, The National has been told.

A source close to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said “a handful of fighters” will lay down their arms in a ceremony and hand them over to several organisations.

“It is a symbolic move to say that we start the process and that the state of Turkey has to prepare the legal and political ground through the parliament in order to allow them to go to Turkey and to work in politics,” the source said.

The PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, called on the group to disarm in a historic address in February amid a push for a new peace process. The terms of any settlement remain unclear and there have been previous ceasefires that collapsed.

“The next move will depend on the Turkish response,” the source said. “If the parliament approves new laws that allow these people to go back to Turkey without facing arrests or any legal action then more will lay down their weapons.”

However, a negative response from Turkey would mean the fighters “will stay where they are and defend themselves”, they said. They did not reveal how many fighters would be involved or when the ceremony would happen.

The PKK was founded by Ocalan in 1978 and has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades, with about 40,000 killed on both sides. The group is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU, something it challenges.

Pro-Kurdish leaders in Turkey have insisted that Ocalan needs better communication with the outside world to manage the proposed disarmament and political transition.