The Plight of Rebellion: Lessons from the PKK's Disarmament

When Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow to evade imminent death—a moment that signalled the collapse of his regime’s grip on power—the repercussions extended far beyond Syria's internal turmoil.

- BY NILANTHA ILANGAMUWA

For years, Damascus had offered refuge and covert support to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), leveraging the group to exert pressure on Ankara. Assad’s escape thus marked a decisive rupture in the regional dynamics that had sustained such insurgent alliances. The PKK, a principal actor in the Kurdish struggle and long engaged in armed confrontation with the Turkish state, announced a deliberate transition away from armed resistance. The disarmament ceremony held on 11 July 2025 in Sulaymaniyah was neither triumphant nor final, but marked a meaningful moment in a decades-long conflict that has claimed over 40,000 lives and left a profound imprint on Kurdish political identity and collective memory.

The ideological development of the PKK, as shaped by Abdullah Öcalan, represents a significant departure from orthodox Marxism towards a synthesis of Kurdish nationalism, cultural self-determination, and democratic confederalism. Öcalan himself articulated this shift in his prison writings, emphasising the centrality of culture and identity as the foundation for political liberation. In Prison Writings: The Roots of Civilisation, he stated, “The liberation of the Kurdish people cannot be achieved by military means alone; it requires a revolution of consciousness grounded in history, language, and tradition.” Further distancing himself from classical dialectical materialism, Öcalan rejected the conventional nation-state model, advocating instead for “a democratic system in which multiple identities and autonomies coexist without domination” (Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization). This ideological transformation has drawn both acclaim and criticism, yet remains key to understanding the PKK’s persistence beyond its military activities.