Turkey, Iraq and KRG plan for 4,200 PKK members to lay down arms: report
Officials from Turkey, Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are meeting in Erbil over a plan for some 4,200 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to lay down their arms and vacate 18 sites in northern Iraq this month, the Iraqi news outlet Al Aalem Al Jadid reported on Tuesday.
A group comprising Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the Iraqi National Security Service and the Kurdistan Region Security Council has been holding daily talks in the city, the newspaper said, citing informed sources.
The first stage covers positions, camps, settlements and caves in Amedi, Kani Masi, Zakho, Avashin, Said Sadiq, Ranya, Dukan, Koya, Mount Korek and Sidakan.
Positions on Mount Qandil, where the PKK’s main command is based, are not part of the first stage.
Kurdish politician Juma Mohammed, whom the newspaper described as close to the PKK, said the arms handover could start in the coming days and the first stage was expected to take one month.
Security teams are also monitoring 72 PKK positions, camps, shelters and caves near the Turkish border.
MİT teams are expected to inspect the vacated sites for PKK members, weapons, ammunition and explosives.
Handover points have been selected in the provinces of Duhok, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, but the parties have yet to agree on who will receive the weapons.
Senior Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official Ghiyath Surji said Baghdad should receive them because the handovers would take place on Iraqi soil.
The PUK would take part because some PKK sites are in areas under its control, he added.
Iraqi Armed Forces General Command spokesman Sabah Noman earlier confirmed that Baghdad, Erbil and Ankara had set up a joint mechanism to secure areas vacated by the PKK.
Iraqi Border Guard forces and peshmerga units would deploy to the sites while MİT verified whether the 72 positions had been vacated, Noman told Channel 8.
He also said five arms handover points would be established around Erbil and Sulaymaniyah.
Noman did not, however, confirm the figure of 4,200 members or the list of 18 sites.
A separate account published Wednesday put the number at about 3,800 PKK members at 18 camps, leaving the exact total unclear.
Turkey established four subcommittees on August 24 under the National Solidarity and Integration Coordination Board to manage legal procedures, social integration, arms handovers and field checks.
The board was created under the Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration, which took effect on August 18.
The process began in October 2024 and advanced after jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan called on the group in February 2025 to lay down its arms and disband.
The PKK announced in May 2025 that it would disband and end its armed campaign, and a small group burned its weapons at a ceremony near Sulaymaniyah in July.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, has fought the Turkish state since 1984 in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.