The disarmament of the PKK terrorist group, a process that began earlier this year, will likely continue into 2026, but the timetable for the fate of terrorists is clearer now.
A report by the Sabah newspaper says Zap and Metina, two camps harboring PKK members, are expected to be fully emptied by the end of February 2026, while Hakurk and Gara, near the Qandil mountains, will be evacuated in the spring. All are located in northern Iraq, in a region controlled by Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The newspaper also reported that Abdullah Öcalan, jailed ringleader of the PKK, issued a message for the group’s Syrian wing, the YPG, to send away “foreign elements” within the YPG out of Syria.
The PKK responded to Öcalan’s call last February and announced it would dissolve. Months later, it held a symbolic ceremony in which terrorists burned their weapons in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah.
Security sources told Sabah that the timetable for the PKK to cease activities was more or less defined. The “cleaning operations” in Zap and Metina are almost over, according to the sources. The PKK announced in November that it withdrew its forces from the Zap camp, “to reduce the risk of clashes” with Turkish forces. But this still needs confirmation by Turkish security authorities. Turkish intelligence is currently monitoring the disarmament process in Iraq.
The so-called "Zap camp" is located in a mountainous territory in Duhok, a province controlled by the KRG. It is only 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from Çukurca, a district of Türkiye's southeastern province of Hakkari, which has been the scene of lethal PKK attacks in the past decades. Türkiye launched a massive military operation in the region in 2008 to clear out the area from terrorists, achieving some success in driving terrorists out of the region. In 2017, it launched another major counterterrorism operation in the region. Zap was also the main stronghold of the PKK in northern Iraq before senior figures of the group relocated to the Qandil mountains near the same region. In 2022, Türkiye launched broader Operation Claw-Lock to eradicate the PKK across Iraq, including in the Metina and Avasin-Basyan regions. Metina and Zap are expected to be fully cleared by the end of February, almost exactly one year after Öcalan made his historic call to the PKK.
Elsewhere, Hakurk and Gara, close to Qandil, are expected to be completely evacuated in the spring. Sources told Sabah that “activities” were underway in those two camps.
Evacuation of the camps is critical to end the existence of the PKK as a terrorist group in northern Iraq. Türkiye is considering enacting laws for lenient sentences for PKK members not involved in crimes once the evacuation is completed.
Türkiye also monitors the integration of the YPG into the security forces of post-Assad Syria, a condition stipulated in a deal between the group and Damascus last March. The YPG has claimed Öcalan’s call for dissolution did not include them, but Sabah reported that Öcalan sent a message to YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin, code-named "Mazloum Kobani," urging him to expel foreign fighters among YPG members, in a bid to preserve the YPG as a “local group” in Syria. Turkish nationals among YPG members are also expected to be eligible for future laws for lenient sentencing in Türkiye if they return to Türkiye and if they are not involved in any acts of terrorism. The YPG is believed to have around 8,500 non-Syrian members, including nationals of European, African and Arab countries.
In the meantime, the Turkish Parliament is working on a final report that will pave the way for the implementation of future bills regarding the initiative. On Tuesday, a delegation from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) visited Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç and Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş for further talks on the initiative. The DEM Party, linked to the PKK, has joined other parties in the establishment of a parliamentary committee to tackle the initiative, which is chaired by Kurtulmuş.
Issuing a statement after the meeting, Tunç said they discussed the initiative comprehensively with the DEM Party delegation and talked about a road map that will be drafted by the parliamentary committee.
“Terrorism, which has caused great suffering for us as a nation and remains one of the greatest obstacles to our country’s development and continued strengthening, must come to a complete end. It is our shared desire that our youth, our children and our nation attain a more peaceful and secure future. We will always honor the legacy of our fallen soldiers and veterans and will continue to manage this process with the utmost care,” Tunç said.
