Karayılan Says PKK Did Not Pledge to Lay Down Arms in June 12 Video Message

By Bosphorus News Türkiye Desk

Murat Karayılan, a senior figure in the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a terrorist organization designated by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, said in a June 12 video message aired by Gerila TV and carried by ANF that the group had not pledged to lay down its arms.

Karayılan drew a sharp distinction between disarmament and what he called stopping the armed-struggle strategy.

"We did not say, 'we will lay down arms.' We said, 'we are stopping the armed-struggle strategy,'" Karayılan said, in remarks also carried by Yeni Özgür Politika and Yeni Yaşam.

The remarks were carried by ANF and other outlets aligned with or close to the PKK's media ecosystem, making the wording significant not as an independent confirmation of policy, but as the movement's own public framing of the process.

The wording matters because it pushes back against the reading that the PKK has accepted a straightforward disarmament track. Karayılan instead tied the issue of weapons to Abdullah Öcalan's status and freedom, as well as to broader legal and political steps concerning the Kurdish issue.

Karayılan said Öcalan's freedom was the first condition for the process to move forward. He also pointed to the need for Öcalan's role to be recognized and for legal arrangements that would cover the Kurdish issue.

Karayılan's wording cuts across Ankara's official framing of the process. The government has presented the file through disarmament and a "terror-free Türkiye" agenda, while Karayılan defines the shift as a strategic suspension rather than an immediate surrender of weapons.

Kurdish regional reporting highlighted three conditions in Karayılan's remarks: Öcalan's freedom, legal status for Kurds and comprehensive legal arrangements. Nerina Azad reported the statement in that frame, while Yeni Özgür Politika said Karayılan pointed to three key issues before the guerrilla side could lay down arms.

The distinction follows earlier comments by Karayılan that legal changes would be needed before any disarmament decision could be carried out. That earlier line had already moved the issue beyond a unilateral military step and into the field of law, status and negotiation.

The June 12 message makes the formulation more explicit. Karayılan is rejecting the idea that the PKK has already committed to laying down weapons, while preserving the claim that the group has moved away from an armed-struggle strategy under conditions linked to Öcalan and legal recognition.

That difference will carry political weight in Ankara. The handling of any PKK-related process depends not only on whether the group says it has changed course, but on how that change is defined: disarmament, a ceasefire-style pause, or a negotiated transition tied to legal guarantees.

That distinction leaves the process in a politically sensitive space. Ankara's public line depends on disarmament; Karayılan's formulation keeps weapons tied to Öcalan's status, legal guarantees and the question of who defines the next step.

***Sources: ANF, Yeni Özgür Politika, Yeni Yaşam, Nerina Azad, Kısa Dalga, Bosphorus News review.