The imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, has called for an end to the fight against the Turkish state. This may open the door to ending four decades of conflict that has claimed over 40,000 lives. RFI's correspondent in Istanbul looks at the implications for the wider region.
In a packed conference hall in an Istanbul hotel, Ahmet Turk, a leading member of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Dem Party, read a statement by Ocalan calling for the organization, which he founded, to disarm and dissolve itself, declaring an end to the decades-long conflict.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, has been fighting for autonomy and Kurdish minority rights in Turkey since the 1980s.
Ocalan, imprisoned in a Turkish jail since 1999, made his disarmament call after the PKK suffered significant military setbacks in recent years.
"The PKK is almost finished within the borders of Turkey," explained Mesut Yegen, a political scientist at the Istanbul-based Reform Institute.
However, Yegen claims with the PKK now primarily based in northern Iraq on Turkey's frontier, while its affiliate in Syria, the SDF, controls a large swathe of territory bordering Turkey all sides still have an interest in peace.
"We know that the Turkish state needs a peace process because it's worried about the future development in the region in Syria and Iraq," added Yegen.
Turkey looks for regional help in its battle against Kurdish rebels in Iraq
Cautious response
The Turkish government gave a cautious response to Ocalan's statement, saying it's waiting for the PKK to disarm. The PKK leadership based in Iraq, ahead of Ocalan's statement, declared it is looking for gestures from the government before any disarmament.
"The peace process in Turkey will largely depend on what emerges, what kind of a deal emerges inside Syria," Asli Aydintasbas, a visiting senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington, said.
"So we're also seeing Turkey be more cautious. That doesn't mean, you know, Turkey won't reverse course if it feels there's no room to go with Syrian Kurds or inside the peace process in Turkey."
Turkish armed forces are massed on the Syrian border with Ankara, demanding the SDF merge with the Syrian army under the control of Syria's new rulers, with whom the Turkish government has close ties.
For now, the SDF leader Mazloum Abdi declared his force is not bound by Ocalan's disarmament call while demanding Ankara end its ongoing attacks on its troops.
Turkey's Saturday Mothers keep up vigil for lost relatives
Scepticism
Analyst Mesut Yegen adds that ending the PKK conflict will come at a price for Ankara. "They're (PKK) expecting that in return for that, the state promises that at least a kind of autonomy or status for Syrian Kurds is going to be recognised by the Syrian regime, the new regime, and that the Turkish state also supports this kind of solution.
"In addition to this, of course, the expectation is that some reforms will be implemented in Turkey with regards to the Kurdish question."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has distanced himself from the current efforts to end the conflict, other than saying a historic opportunity exists for Kurds and Turks to live in peace but offering no concessions.
For months, a crackdown on Turkey's legal Kurdish movement continues, with the removal of elected mayors and arrests of journalists and human rights activists.
Trial of alleged PKK figures accused of financing terror begins in France
Turkish commentator on Turkey's Politikyol news portal, Sezin Oney, warns unless the causes of the conflict are addressed, there's little hope of a permanent peace.
"Probably, any disarmament or any disbanding of PKK would be a gimmick," warns Oney.
"It wouldn't be a real actual disbanding, and it might just appear in a year under a different name. Because they would still have the pretext to argue that armed struggle is necessary because the Kurds in Turkey don't have their democratic rights."
With previous peace efforts failing, opinion polls indicate that the public remains sceptical of this latest effort. But for 75-year-old Ocalan, analysts warn it may be his last chance of any hope of freedom.
