US to accept Kurdish militant leaders in peace bid, Anadolu says

Taylan Bilgic, Bloomberg News on Jul 12, 2025

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The U.S. would allow Kurdish militant leaders in Syria and Turkey to resettle in America if doing so would help support their groups’ transition from armed struggle to civilian life, a top diplomat said.

Members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and its Syrian affiliate, the YPG, should act swiftly to pursue integration and avoid confrontation with the governments in Ankara and Damascus, according to Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador for Turkey and special envoy to Syria, as cited by Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

Militant leaders could relocate to the U.S. if they wished, Barrack said.

The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by the European Union and the U.S., had waged a decades-long insurgency for Kurdish autonomy against the Turkish state. In May, however, the group said it would disband, declaring it had fulfilled its mission and that the Kurdish issue could now be resolved through conventional politics.

In Syria, the reintegration of the country’s largest minority will take time due to a lack of mutual confidence, the agency cited Barrack as saying. Still, the parties are expected to make “a beautiful wedding” in the end, he said.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan applauded a symbolic burning of weapons by PKK militants, saying the events marked “a new page” while pledging to resolve issues through dialog.

“As of yesterday, 47 years of terrorist scourge has come to an end,” Erdogan told members of his AK Party in Ankara on Saturday.

PKK’s fight for autonomy has cost $2 trillion to the Turkish economy, Erdogan said. From now on, the ruling AK Party, its Nationalist Movement Party ally and the pro-Kurdish Dem Party will “walk together,” he added.