Abdullah Öcalan, jailed leader of the terrorist group PKK, responded positively to a call by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and expressed readiness to contribute to a process that may lead the group to lay down arms. In statements conveyed through two lawmakers from a party close to the group on Sunday, Öcalan said it was a “time of brotherhood and peace for Türkiye and the region.”
Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, two lawmakers from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), visited Öcalan in Imralı, a Marmara Sea island where he is incarcerated, on Saturday. It was the second DEM meeting with Öcalan after the PKK leader’s nephew and DEM lawmaker Ömer Öcalan met him in October. The second meeting was recently approved by the Justice Ministry, a few months after Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli made an unprecedented call for Öcalan to be temporarily released and address a DEM Party meeting at Parliament to instruct the PKK to lay down arms. The MHP is part of the People’s Alliance led by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which endorses the process.
The DEM Party said in a written statement posted on its website that lawmakers and Öcalan discussed developments in Türkiye and the Middle East and Öcalan proposed positive solutions to “imposed dark scenarios.”
Öcalan has been serving a life sentence in a prison in Imralı, south of Istanbul, since his capture 25 years ago. Though the PKK picked new senior cadres after his capture, he is still a revered figure for the group, which refers to him as “leadership.”
“Reinforcing Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is a historic responsibility and is a matter of importance and emergency for all peoples,” Öcalan said in his statements quoted by DEM. The terrorist group PKK, which has killed thousands since it launched its first terror attacks in the 1980s, claims to fight for Kurdish self-rule and brainwashes the Kurdish population concentrated in southeastern Türkiye to draw recruits.
Since the campaign of terrorism began, Türkiye resorted to military tactics to suppress the PKK, especially in the 1990s. Under AK Party-led governments since the early 2000s, this policy continued for a while. In the 2010s, the AK Party launched a “reconciliation process” to address fundamental issues exploited by PKK, such as the rights of the Kurdish community. Positive steps by the government led the PKK to cease its attacks for a few years and “withdraw” to Northern Iraq from the southeastern regions of Türkiye. Yet, efforts failed due to PKK’s reluctance to further it and the emergence of a Syrian wing of the terrorist group that exploited the security vacuum in war-torn Syria. Önder and Buldan, who met Öcalan during the reconciliation process, were part of delegations participating in the process under DEM’s spiritual predecessor, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
In his message, Öcalan said it was essential for all political circles in Türkiye to take the initiative without being confined to “narrow calculations,” “act constructive” and “provide a positive contribution” for this new process to succeed. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has described Bahçeli’s call as a historic window of opportunity, while some opposition parties were quick to condemn it, claiming the government courted terrorists. Even the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which reached out to DEM for an electoral alliance, expressed reservations. Öcalan said the Parliament he was urged to come would be “undoubtedly one of the most important grounds for ‘this contribution.'” “Incidents in Gaza and Syria demonstrated that the solution to this problem that is being aggravated by external intervention cannot be delayed any longer. The opposition’s contributions and suggestions are valuable to achieve success in this solution,” Öcalan said.
“I have the capability and resolve to contribute positively to this new paradigm empowered by Mr. Bahçeli and Mr. Erdoğan. My approach will be shared with the state and political circles. I am ready to take the positive step and make the call. Our efforts will advance the country to the level it deserves and will be a guideline for a democratic transformation. It is a time of peace, democracy and brotherhood for Türkiye and the region,” Öcalan said.
Devlet Bahçeli, who once proposed reinstatement of the death sentence so that Öcalan could be hanged, took the risk of alienating nationalist voters when he made his unprecedented call for Öcalan’s speech at Parliament in October, shortly after his handshake with DEM Party lawmakers in Parliament, another unusual sight. After his statements, the DEM Party contacted the Justice Ministry to arrange a meeting with Öcalan.
A few months later, Bahçeli’s call found a new meaning as the Assad regime in neighboring Syria was toppled by anti-regime forces, paving the way for the elimination of the YPG/PKK in Syria. The YPG/PKK initially sought assistance from its partner, the United States, before changing rhetoric and expressing a desire to join the new armed forces of Syria. Syria’s de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa was quoted by Al-Arabiya on Sunday saying that “Kurdish forces” will be integrated into the Defense Ministry, in an apparent reference to the YPG/PKK. President Erdoğan has said recently that the YPG/PKK should either lay down arms or be prepared for elimination. The new Syrian administration and Ankara also support the idea of non-Syrian members of the YPG/PKK to leave the country.
The terrorist group PKK/YPG will not be allowed to take shelter in Syria, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a Saturday phone call. During the call, Fidan stressed the importance of working in cooperation with Syria’s new administration to ensure stability in the country and to complete the transition period in an orderly manner, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli. Türkiye supports the efforts of Syria’s new administration to ensure the country’s territorial integrity and security, Fidan said. According to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, Blinken “emphasized the need to support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that upholds human rights and prioritizes an inclusive and representative government.” Blinken and Fidan also discussed their common goal of preventing terrorism from threatening the security of both Türkiye and Syria, Miller said in a statement.