CAIRO, May 12. /TASS/. The decision by the Kurdistan Workers Party, or the PKK, to dissolve and end its armed confrontation with Turkey will be a major step toward strengthening stability in the region, President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirivan Barzani said.
"We welcome the PKK’s decision," the Shafaq news portal quoted the Iraqi Kurdish leader as saying. "We think it <...> will mark a step toward [maintaining] real dialogue that will contribute to [peaceful] coexistence [of peoples] and help strengthen stability both in Turkey and across the region," Barzani added.
At a congress held by the PKK earlier, the group decided to disband and end its 47-year confrontation with Turkey. In a declaration issued after the congress, the PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, said it would transition to democratic politics instead.
In late February, the group’s leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in Turkey, called on all PKK-affiliated formations to lay down their arms and end the armed confrontation with Ankara, and on the PKK itself to disband.