The imprisoned leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., declared in a video released on Wednesday that his group’s armed insurgency against the Turkish state was over and would be replaced by a peaceful political struggle.
The comments echoed a written call by the leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in February for his group’s fighters to disarm and disband. But given his great stature among his followers, hearing and seeing the appeal could move the process forward.
“This is a voluntary transition from the phase of armed struggle to the phase of democratic politics and law,” he said in the video, the first time footage of him has been made public since he was convicted of treason and separatism in 1999 and imprisoned. “It should not be considered a loss but a historic gain.”
The P.K.K. has been waging an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s that it says seeks greater rights for Turkey’s Kurds. More than 40,000 people have been killed, many of them civilians, in attacks on Turkish security forces and in Turkish military operations aimed at quashing the militants.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union have classified the P.K.K. as a terrorist organization.
The peace process has proceeded slowly since Mr. Ocalan’s call for disarmament in February. In May, the P.K.K. convened a congress that announced the group’s decision to disband. A ceremony is planned for Friday in northern Iraq, where many of its top cadres are based, during which a group of P.K.K. fighters are expected to destroy their weapons.
But Turkish officials have said they do not intend to offer any concessions on Kurdish demands as part of the process, such as increased Kurdish linguistic, cultural or political rights.
Speaking to lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party in the Parliament, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not mention Mr. Ocalan’s video but said that ending the conflict with the P.K.K. would benefit Turkey’s future.
“We are saving Turkey from a half-century-long menace,” he said of the peace process. “We are ripping down the bloody shackles that were put on the ankles of our country.”
Politicians supporting the process have called for the establishment of a parliamentary committee to develop a legal framework for disarmament. Mr. Ocalan said in the video that such a committee was important to ensure that the process advances.
Full disarmament of the P.K.K. could end a conflict that for decades has fueled Turkey’s most serious domestic security threat. It could also have implications in neighboring countries, where the group and its offshoots operate. The Turkish military often bombs the P.K.K. in northern Iraq. A P.K.K. affiliate that is backed by the United States controls northeastern Syria, although its leader has said his forces are not bound by Mr. Ocalan’s call for disarmament.
Mr. Ocalan is hailed by many Kurds at a potent symbol of their struggle for greater rights. He is despised by many Turks, and politicians have often called him “chief terrorist” or “baby killer.”
The video was released on Wednesday by pro-P.K.K. media outlets. Mr. Ocalan, 76, appears seated at a table, his hair, mustache and eyebrows white, and speaks calmly for seven minutes, surrounded by six other jailed P.K.K. militants.
He disavowed the quest for a Kurdish state but said that the P.K.K. had established its main goal: recognition of the existence of the Kurdish people.
“Existence is recognized, so the main aim is fulfilled,” he said. “I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not in arms. And I call on you to put this principle into practice.”
Ben Hubbard is the Istanbul bureau chief, covering Turkey and the surrounding region.
Şafak Timur covers Turkey and is based in Istanbul.
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