After laying down its arms last February, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is now on the verge of officially announcing its dissolution—a step the Basque organization ETA had already taken in 2018. Could the Polisario Front, another armed group like the PKK and ETA, be ready to follow the same path? Two former members of the Front share their perspectives. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is reportedly preparing to announce its dissolution. Nearly three months ago, the group's iconic leader, Abdullah Öcalan—imprisoned in Turkey since 1999—urged his supporters to lay down their arms and disband the movement in favor of a political solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. It's worth noting that the PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and several European countries. Could this turning point serve as a model for the Polisario Front, which has been locked in a political stalemate for decades? Cherif Mohammed, a former Polisario member who joined the Sahrawi Movement for Peace (MSP), remains skeptical. «Unlike the PKK, the Polisario is merely a puppet controlled by Algeria», he told Yabiladi. «It was created during the Cold War to weaken Morocco. The Algerian government, which aspires to regional leadership in the Maghreb, continues to fund and arm the Polisario for its own interests—not those of the Sahrawi people». «The PKK realized, after more than forty years of armed struggle, that violence was not the path to a solution. So it decided to consider other options. The Polisario, on the other hand, doesn't operate under the same logic. Like the Algerian regime, it does not tolerate dissent. Those who oppose its political stance are imprisoned, killed, or exiled. This has been the case for 50 years». Cherif Mohammed, a former Polisario member «The PKK is independent, the Polisario is not» Bachir Dkhil, one of the Polisario's founding members who later joined Morocco after being detained in the Front's prisons, also argues that the comparison falls short. «The PKK is an independent movement, while the Polisario is entirely dependent on Algeria. It's Algeria that calls the shots in the Tindouf camps», he said. «It's hard to imagine the Polisario ever following the PKK's path, because Algeria is not ready to abandon its geopolitical project or consider a political settlement», he added. He also noted a crucial difference: «The PKK doesn't have a population of refugees settled in another country. In contrast, the refugee population in the Tindouf camps is a key asset for both Algeria and the Polisario, enabling the continuation of the conflict. While all claim to be Sahrawis, the majority come from Mauritania, Algeria, and Mali. The indigenous Sahrawi population is actually a minority in the camps». Dkhil also drew a parallel with the Basque separatist group ETA. «It was a guerrilla movement that opposed the Spanish state, but it was forced to disarm after losing French support following Franco's death», he recalled. After Spain's socialists took power in 1982, France began dismantling ETA's rear bases—a process that culminated in the group's official dissolution in 2018. «The Polisario hasn't reached that stage», Dkhil concluded. «It still enjoys Algeria's full backing».
