In Turkey, the jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan has called on his followers in the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, to lay down arms and dissolve their organization — paving the way for the first ceasefire since a peace process collapsed in 2015. Since 1984, Turkey has waged a counterinsurgency campaign against the PKK in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast region, where fighting has killed more than 40,000 people.

Meanwhile, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces group, which controls northeastern Syria, said Öcalan’s directive does not apply to his organization.

Mazloum Abdi: “This issue is related to the PKK, the issue of laying down arms, and it has nothing to do with us, and it is not directed at us and our forces. But if this operation succeeds, we will also benefit from it, because Turkey has concerns about the PKK, and because of the PKK, Turkey is attacking our regions. And because the PKK will dissolve itself and lay down its arms, then there will be no danger to Turkey, and there will be no excuse to attack our regions.”

Turkey’s military has repeatedly attacked Kurdish forces in Syria, including the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey considers part of the PKK.