|
Listen to article
|
Abdullah Ocalan, the incarcerated head of the banned Kurdish PKK faction, has urged his followers to abandon their weapons and dismantle the organization, a momentous shift in strategy from his prison cell.
The directive, conveyed through a letter recited by parliamentarians from a pro-Kurdish party, seeks to close the chapter on four decades of violent insurgency in Turkey’s southeast—a conflict that has claimed countless lives, leaving a deep scar across the region.
Ocalan, now 75, shared these thoughts after a lengthy discussion with the MPs on Imrali, a remote island in the Sea of Marmara southwest of Istanbul, where he’s been held in isolation since 1999, his words echoing beyond the stone walls of his confinement.
The proclamation follows a peace overture spearheaded months ago by Devlet Bahceli, a staunch nationalist and key supporter of Turkey’s ruling coalition, who set in motion a bid to resolve the long-standing strife—an unexpected alignment that lent weight to Ocalan’s call.
“There is no alternative to democracy in the pursuit and realisation of a political system,” Ocalan’s letter read. “Democratic consensus is the fundamental way.”
The letter was read out by Dem party members Ahmet Turk and Pervin Buldan in both Kurdish and Turkish at a hotel in Istanbul, after their third visit to Imrali island in recent months.
Appealing to members of the PKK – the Kurdistan Workers’ Party – Ocalan said “all groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself”.
He said the movement – banned as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US – was formed primarily because “the channels of democratic politics were closed”.
However, Devlet Bahceli, backed by positive signals from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other political parties, had created the right environment for the PKK to lay down its arms, he added.
Bahceli has for years pushed for tough military action against the PKK, but last October he surprised colleagues by shaking hands with MPs from the Dem party in parliament. He then suggested Ocalan could be given parole if he gave up violence and dissolved his armed group.
A tentative wave of hope rippled through certain circles that the four-decade-long clash in Turkey might finally draw to a close, though guarded expectations tempered the mood.
“We’ll see how this plays out,” remarked Efkan Ala, a prominent figure in President Erdogan’s governing AKP, striking a note of measured anticipation amid the unfolding developments.
The main opposition force, the secular CHP, announced plans to huddle on Thursday evening, February 27, 2025, signaling a swift move to assess the shifting landscape.
Pervin Buldan and her Dem Party counterpart Sirri Sureyya Onder, who had sat down with Abdullah Ocalan twice in recent weeks, have been keeping other political players in the loop about their prison island exchanges, building a bridge of dialogue.
Addressing a crowd dominated by Kurdish political voices and media in Diyarbakir, Onder framed the moment as a promising pivot in the region’s saga, his words carrying the weight of cautious optimism.
Kurdish figures broadly embraced Ocalan’s declaration, and reports from the ground noted thousands flocking to public squares in Diyarbakir and Van—heartlands of Turkey’s Kurdish southeast—to catch the statement broadcast on massive screens, a collective pulse of anticipation humming through the gatherings.
