Ocalan: founder of the Kurdish militant PKK who authored its end

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is an icon to many Kurds but a “terrorist” to many within wider Turkish society.

After a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, the PKK said on Monday it was disbanding and ending its armed struggle.

The move came after Ocalan issued a historic call on February 27 for his fighters to lay down their arms in a major step towards ending the decades-long…