Kurds at the crossroads after Öcalan’s call for an end to the PKK's armed struggle
A Kurdish source in Diyarbakir told AsiaNews that this is “the end of an era and the beginning of a new phase". The Kurdish leader yesterday met with a delegation in prison, giving them a message in which he calls on the party to lay down its arms and dissolve itself. However, the picture is still one of great uncertainty, with "two different groups”, one wants an “end to the clashes”, while the other believes that the Kurdish question “will continue to be a big problem in Turkey.”
Milan (AsiaNews) – Abdullah Öcalan, the historic leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK[*]), has called for an end to the armed struggle from his maximum security prison. This announcement could have historic significance, but whose consequences on the ground remain uncertain.
In Diyarbakir, capital of the homonymous province in south-eastern Turkey, a local source spoke to AsiaNews, the name withheld for security reasons.
“I think the PKK will follow Öcalan’s call,” they said. “In Turkey there are two different groups. Some people think that this call will end the clashes” and “pave the way for a democratic Turkey, while some people think the clashes will never end, and the Kurdish question will continue to be a big problem in Turkey.”
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially fought for an independent Kurdistan, later turning its struggle towards autonomy. Turkey and its Western allies, starting with the United States, have designated the group as a terrorist organisation. Iraq followed in 2024, placing it on its list of banned organisations.
In 2010 and, later, in 2013, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP[†]) started peace talks, showing an openness that did not lead to real peace negotiations. On the contrary, the talks derailed in 2015, followed by intense fighting in the south-east, as well as a series of attacks blamed on the PKK in the capital Ankara, and Istanbul, with a long trail of blood.
The 75-year-old Öcalan has been in prison since 1999 in a maximum security prison on Imrali, an island in the Sea of Marmara, south of Istanbul, where he is serving a life sentence after his death penalty was commuted.
In his appeal, made public yesterday afternoon by members of the delegation that met him in prison, the Kurdish leader speaks about the birth of the PKK in the 20th century, which he calls “history's most intense period of violence” with its two world wars, socialism and the "cold war" between global powers and spheres of influence.
“The outright denial of Kurdish reality, restrictions on basic rights and freedoms – especially freedom of expression – played a significant role in its emergence and development,” Öcalan writes.
For a millennium, Turkish-Kurdish relations “were defined in terms of mutual cooperation and alliance,” against hegemonic powers. However, in the last 200 years of “capitalist modernity”, this alliance broke down, so now the “main task” is “to restructure the historical relationship”.
“Respect for identities, free self-expression, democratic self-organization of each segment of society based on their own socio-economic and political structures, are only possible through the existence of a democratic society and political space.”
Following up on MP Devlet Bahçeli’s remarks, and considering the goodwill of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the “positive” opinions of the other political parties, Öcalan concludes by saying: “I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call. [. . .] all groups must lay [down] their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself.”
This does not come out of the blue. After three years of complete isolation, the last visit the Kurdish leader received was on 3 March 2020, he met a relative on 23 October 2024, Omer Öcalan, who is also a lawmaker of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP[‡]).
On this occasion, he gave him a first message expressing willingness to engage the Turkish government in dialogue. This follows an unusual appeal made two days earlier by the leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP[§]), an ally of Erdoğan.
In a speech, Bahçeli proposed inviting Öcalan to the Turkish Parliament to declare the end of the armed struggle for independence, adding that the Kurdish leader should benefit from the “right to hope” law that can lead to early release. However, these early signs of overture were marred by attacks and bombs in the following weeks.
For the source in Diyarbakir, the picture is still uncertain, “Kurdish people always demand peace and an end to the clashes in Turkey.” Yet, “I think we will wait and see what will happen in the future,” they told AsiaNews.
“Öcalan’s call is the end of an era, and the beginning of a new era. I think the Kurdish freedom movement will continue to fight for Kurdish people, but in [a] different way. Maybe in a political area.”
The party delegation, the source notes, had "three meetings with Öcalan in about a month.” But “We don't know anything about what they talked (about), and what they discussed during the meetings.”
“The delegation went to Kurdistan region of Iraq and had some meetings with the president of the Kurdistan region (Nêçîrvan Barzanî) and other political parties in (the) Kurdistan region.”
For now, in this time of transition, “The only thing I can say is that we will see, together, what will happen in the future for Kurdish people and Kurdish people.”
[*] Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê.
[†] Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi.
[‡] Halkların Demokratik Partisi.
[§] Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi.
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12/02/2022 17:33
