The leader of a banned organization in Kazakhstan urged supporters to disband themselves.

“Like any modern organization and party whose existence has not been forcibly terminated, the PKK must voluntarily convene a congress and make a decision: all groups must lay down their arms, and the organization itself must disband.”

When this statement was read, a photograph of Öcalan surrounded by representatives of the DEM party was shown in the background. This is the first image of the PKK leader in many years.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party was founded by Abdullah Öcalan in the late 1970s. Primarily, it is known as an armed group advocating for an independent Kurdistan in southeastern modern Turkey. However, in his address, Öcalan calls for a rejection of even the minimal demands for autonomy.

“Extreme nationalist solutions—such as the creation of a separate national state, federation, administrative autonomy, or cultural reforms—are incapable of addressing the fundamental questions of historical sociology in society. Respect for identity, free self-expression, and the democratic self-organization of each segment of society based on its socio-economic and political structures are only possible within a democratic society and an open political space,” the address states.

Abdullah Öcalan has been serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison since 1999, following his arrest in Kenya by Turkish intelligence services.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party is one of the few armed organizations officially banned in Kazakhstan. It appears on the list of extremist and terrorist organizations under the name it held at the time of its ban in 2004—“Kurdish People's Congress.” The list also includes its ideological opponents, the Turkish nationalist movement “Bozkurt,” listed as “Boz gurd.”

In January, we reported that Kazakhstan officially removed the Afghan movement “Taliban” from the list of banned organizations.