Kurdish militant group PKK to disband after four-decade insurgency against Turkey

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced on Monday that it will disband and disarm following its more than four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state that has resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 people at the hands of PKK militants and Turkey’s military.

The PKK has sought to create an independent Kurdish state on Turkish soil, where the Kurds make up some 20% of Turkey's 86 million population. The U.S., the European Union and Turkey have classified the PKK as a terrorist organization.