The PKK’s first practical step toward disarmament is expected to take place between July 10 and 12, according to the group’s spokesperson, Zagros Hiwa. This symbolic ceremony will involve fewer than 40 fighters, including at least one senior commander, who will surrender their light weapons in a trust-building gesture designed to advance the PKK-Turkey peace process.

Context: The ceremony is expected to take place in the Ranya district of northern Sulaimani province, according to local media reports. Between 20-30 fighters are planned to participate, including at least one senior commander, with ANKA agency identifying Mustafa Karasu as likely among the group.

This initiative follows a broader peace effort that began in October 2024, when secret negotiations commenced between jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish state. These talks led to Öcalan’s public call in February for the PKK to disarm. In May, the group’s congress formally adopted a roadmap for disarmament.

Analysis: Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin recently visited Erbil, where he met with both ruling KDP and PUK officials to discuss the ongoing disarmament efforts. A joint committee composed of security representatives from the KRG, Iraq, and Turkey is overseeing the process. On the PKK side, ANKA reports that Karasu, a senior commander, will supervise the handover.

The symbolic disarmament is expected to take place near the town of Sangasar, close to the Qandil mountains where the PKK is headquartered. The ceremony is intended to pave the way for a new phase of the process, which includes anticipated legal reforms that could facilitate the release of Kurdish prisoners and may allow lower-ranking PKK members to return to Turkey.

Regarding procedural details, the surrendered weapons—all light arms—will be handed over to Turkish intelligence officials for serial number verification before being destroyed rather than merely confiscated. This destruction is intended as a symbolic gesture, signifying that the weapons will never be used again but rather permanently eliminated.

Kalin also visited Turkey’s Hakkari province near the Iraqi border, signaling that a similar disarmament process may soon unfold within Turkey itself, where a small number of PKK militants are still believed to be active.

In parallel, a delegation from the DEM Party, which represents the legal wing of the Kurdish political movement, is scheduled to meet with President Erdogan next week—marking the second such meeting since the process began. A parliamentary committee is reportedly being formed to draft and oversee the legal steps required to support the disarmament. These legislative moves are expected within weeks.

According to the Turkish official narrative, this process consists of five stages. The first began with Erdogan ally and nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli’s handshake with the DEM party in October. The second involved Ocalan’s call for disarmament and the PKK congress that adopted the decision in May. The current stage encompasses active disarmament, followed by further legal steps and democratization that may include easing restrictions on Ocalan’s prison conditions, and finally “sociological and psychological” reintegration into Turkish society.

However, a key challenge is the multi-regional nature of this process. It does not involve only the PKK in Turkey and Iraq, but also connects to the future of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Turkey considers an extension of the PKK. Turkish pro-government sources have repeatedly insisted that the integration of the SDF into the Syrian army is part of the broader disarmament roadmap. Yet disagreements persist: the SDF seeks collective integration as a bloc, while Syria and Turkey demand fighters join individually and be redistributed across army units.

Since Turkish pro-government sources maintain that SDF integration is part of the process, and given the substantial US involvement in the SDF integration process into the Syrian army, the United States is effectively central to the entire process, despite Turkish insistence that no third party is involved. The agreement signed in March between SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa was reportedly expedited under American pressure. Moreover, Turkish media continues to portray the SDF’s integration as part of the wider PKK disarmament effort, and US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack has publicly said multiple times that the SDF integration into the Syrian army must happen soon. This suggests that Washington is not only aware of but actively engaged in the process, even if its role remains officially unacknowledged.