A military coup in Turkey forces much of the PKK to flee to neighboring countries such as Syria and Lebanon, where the fighters train in the Bekaa Valley. Ocalan leaves a year earlier, in 1979. The PKK carries out its first armed attack against Turkish security posts, marking the start of its armed insurgency.

After more than a four-decade insurgency carried out by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) against Turkey, the US-designated terror group, says it has abandoned its armed struggle against Ankara.

A Kurdish militant group announced a historic decision Monday to disband and disarm as part of a new peace initiative with Turkey, after four decades of armed conflict