Following Abdullah Öcalan's call on 27 February, the PKK convened a dissolution congress from 5 to 7 May and announced the decisions taken at the congress. The declaration states that "the PKK has completed its historical mission" and that on this basis, decisions have been taken for "the dissolution of its organisational structure and the termination of the method of armed struggle". The text of the decision draws attention to the relationship between the dissolution decision and the ideological-organisational transformation that the PKK has undergone, as well as the political situation in the world and the region (Middle East). It then points out the steps that the state and the authorities have to take in order to enable the implementation of this decision, especially Öcalan's "practical leadership" and the creation of the necessary conditions. The decisions of the congress state that all parties in the parliament, especially the main opposition party, must take responsibility for recognising the right to democratic politics and for ensuring legal guarantees. Furthermore, by referring to Deniz Gezmiş's cry from the gallows, "Long live the struggle for independence of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples", left-socialist forces are also called upon to take part in this process. Looking at the whole announced text, it can be said that the end of the activities under the name of PKK and the laying down of arms is declared as "a period in which the struggle will continue with new forms and means".

In order to see how and to what extent the decisions taken will be implemented from now on, it is necessary to look at the steps that the government and the state will or will not take and the stance that all the forces called upon at the congress will take.

First of all, it is important to emphasise that the 12th Congress of the PKK was held in two areas under air and ground attacks and under heavy siege, as this shows how fragile and open to provocation the process is. This situation shows that the first step for the success of the process is for the state to stop its activities.

The decisions of the PKK congress are based on the explanation of the justifications of Öcalan's short text (a call for peace and a democratic society) announced on 27 February. This shows once again the decisive influence of Öcalan on the decisions taken.

Öcalan's statement that "the PKK, which was born as a result of the denial policy in the Kurdish question, has reached the end of its life" is explained in the decisions of the Congress with the ideological and organisational justifications of the "democratic nation" and the "democratic-ecological society paradigm". The 'democratic nation' means the abandonment of the goal of a separate national state, and the 'democratic-ecological society paradigm' aims at a democratic organisation based on local communities and, on this basis, the democratic transformation of society. It is known that Öcalan developed these views inspired by the 'libertarian municipalism and confederal system' views of Murray Bookchin, the founder of eco-anarchism. While the PKK declares its own dissolution in the decisions of the congress, it calls on the Kurdish people to "establish self-organisations in all areas", thus showing that this dissolution decision is actually the result of an ideological and organisational transformation.

The political justification of the dissolution decision is the intensification of the struggle for hegemony among the imperialists, which is called "Third World War", and its reflection in the Middle East, which makes the reorganisation of the Kurdish-Turkish relations inevitable. It is known that both Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the MHP, who had previously promised to speak in favour of the new process on behalf of the ruling bloc, and Öcalan had pointed out the reshaping of the region by the Israeli attacks and its possible consequences as developments that made the new process necessary.

Undoubtedly, the most critical point regarding the decisions of the PKK Congress is whether the necessary steps will be taken to make the political and legal arrangements for the implementation of these decisions. It is clear that the main responsibility for this lies with the government, which has so far taken the approach of "let the PKK convene its dissolution congress and then we'll see". The moves of the government to use this process not for the peaceful solution of the Kurdish question and the democratisation of the country, but for the division and suppression of the opposition and the continuation of the oppressive regime through constitutional amendments, create serious mistrust.

At this point, it is very important for the main opposition party, CHP, and all labourer and democratic forces in the country to take responsibility to prevent the government from using this process for its own interests. Because the PKK's decision to dissolve and lay down its arms can be the basis for the people to build a democratic and peaceful future based on equal rights; this requires first of all to save the process from the government's mercy and arbitrariness. The leader of CHP, Özgür Özel, who had previously announced that they would take a stance in favour of a democratic solution to the Kurdish question, also said at the Van rally that they would support every step that would lead to peace. Today, the requirement of this position is that the necessary democratic and legal regulations for the implementation of the dissolution and disarmament decisions of the PKK Congress are submitted to the parliament without delay. It is necessary to escalate the struggle for democratic rights and demands, such as the end of operations, the release of political prisoners, the cancellation of trustee appointments, the creation of channels for democratic politics that can include those who have laid down arms and the necessary constitutional arrangements for equal citizenship and education in the mother tongue, both under the roof of parliament and in all arenas of struggle, in order to prevent the government from exploiting the process.

With the decisions of the PKK Congress, the most fundamental "justification" for the state and authorities' policy of oppression and assimilation against the Kurdish people and for the prohibition of all rights and actions in the struggle for labour and democracy in the last 40 years in the country has disappeared. Now, it is the responsibility of all the labourer and democratic forces who are in favour of a human life and an equal democratic future to put pressure on the government to make the necessary arrangements for the implementation of these decisions and to make these decisions the basis of the struggle for building a lasting peace and a democratic future. Whether these decisions can become a historical turning point for the country will also depend on the attitude of these forces and the struggle they lead.

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