ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party said on Monday that the first phase of the peace process between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been completed, a day after the Kurdish group announced the withdrawal of its forces from Turkey. 

The PKK on Sunday issued a historic statement, declaring the withdrawal of “all guerrilla forces in Turkey” to the Medya Defense Areas in the Kurdistan Region, where the group’s headquarters in the Qandil Mountains is located. 

“Yesterday, we witnessed one of the most critical and significant steps,” Tuncer Bakirhan, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), said in a press briefing. 

“At this point, the first phase of the process has been completed,” he stated. 

The PKK’s Sunday announcement was made at a press conference in Qandil and attended by 25 of the group’s members and senior commanders. The group said the decision was made to advance the ongoing peace process with Ankara. 

“These historic steps taken by the Kurdish side, under the leadership of Leader Abdullah Ocalan and the PKK, have profoundly impacted the political and social landscape of Turkey, revealing a new spirit and will toward peace and democratization,” the PKK statement said.

During the presser, Bakirhan stressed that upon the conclusion of the peace process, Turkey will realize a better future, saying, “The peace is for the entirety of Turkey.” 

“This decision to withdraw is the most concrete example of [the PKK’s] resolve to peace,” he asserted. 

In May, the PKK held a landmark congress in the Kurdistan Region, deciding to dissolve and disarm upon the call of its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, ending a four-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state that has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties. 

Dozens of PKK fighters burned their weapons in July, at a symbolic disarmament ceremony in the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province. 

The disarmament caused the peace process to gain traction, and a parliamentary commission was established with the participation of all political parties to implement the legal and political measures of the process. 

The DEM Party co-chair called on the Turkish legislature to “facilitate and develop” the peace process, labeling the commission’s progress as “the building blocks for peace.” 

Ocalan and the DEM Party have repeatedly expressed concern over the lack of concrete measures and the failure to establish a political framework to ensure the success of the process. On Sunday, a senior PKK commander urged Turkey to release Ocalan.

Speaking to AFP after a ceremony in Qandil on Sunday in which the PKK announced they would withdraw from Turkey, senior PKK official Devrim Palu urged Turkey to release the group's imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, saying that such a move is "crucial" to cement the peace process… pic.twitter.com/WH0R9sHHpr

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A committee from the DEM Party – the main mediator of the peace talks- is set to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday. The delegation has already met with Erdogan twice since the peace talks began.

Founded in 1978, the PKK began as a movement for Kurdish independence but later redirected its efforts toward gaining political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey. Ankara and many Western governments classify the group as a terrorist organization.