Kurdish conflict in Türkiye: Öcalan calls for the dissolution of the PKK

The imprisoned leader of the forbidden Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, called on his followers to put the weapons down. The PKK also had to dissolve, it said in one of the Prepurdish Party of Öcalan’s explanation read in Istanbul. To do this, a congress must be convened. Numerous observers rated the call as historical.

A delegation that Öcalan first visited in prison on the island of Imrali in the Marmara Sea in the morning. Among them were the party leaders and MP Sirri Süreyya Önder, Pervin Buldan and the party weight Ahmet Türk. The latter had already been involved in negotiations with Öcalan years ago.

Ocalans’ call could lead to a new peace process between the PKK and the Turkish government – the first step of this kind in more than ten years. The last time a ceasefire was proclaimed in 2013, but the peace process failed in summer 2015. The PKK is listed in Turkey, the EU and the USA as a terrorist organization.

The PKK has been struggling with gun violence and attacks for a Kurdish state or an autonomy area in the southeast of Türkiye since the 1980s. According to the PKK, the PKK has now deployed from the maximum claim of an independent state. So far, tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict. Öcalan (75) has been on the Imrali prison island since 1999.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) welcomes the call. “The PKK is a terrorist association banned in Germany, its struggle has already demanded far too many victims,” ​​said Scholz in Berlin. The Federal Foreign Office also evaluated the call as a “historical opportunity to break through the decades of terror, violence and retaliation for decades that cost tens of thousands of people.” However, further steps are required. “Above all, this also includes respecting and ensuring the cultural and democratic rights of the Kurds in Turkey,” said a spokesman.

Öcalan’s explanation met with great public interest in Turkey. In the Kurdish southeast, it was transferred to the screens. As a reason for his call, Öcalan named, among other things, that there was progress in the country in freedom of expression and the recognition of different identities. As a result, a resolution of the PKK has become necessary. But he also warned: “The need for a democratic society is inevitable.”

It is still uncertain whether the PKK will follow its call. The PKK leadership team currently includes Murat Karayilan and Cemil Bayik, who are sought by the Turkish state for allegations of terrorism.

Conflict with PKK in Türkiye also effects in Syria

The PKK headquarters are located in the Northern Iraqi Kandil mountains. According to the International Crisis Group, the conflict shifted from Turkey to northern Iraq and northern Syria since 2019 after the Turkish military had pushed the PKK fighters back.

In northern Syria, the Kurdish militia YPG, which Ankara fought as a PKK branch, controls large areas. Observers assume that the conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK can only be resolved in interaction with a solution in northern Syria.

Saruhan Oluc, board member of the party, told the German Press Agency that Öcalan’s statement was only aimed at the PKK and the Turkish government. The Kurdish militias in Syria are not affected by the call to disarm. “It has nothing to do with us here in Syria,” said the senior commander of the Syrian democratic forces (SDF), Abdi Maslum, dominated by the YPG, in an online press conference. Nevertheless, he hoped for a positive impact on his militia, should the process be successful, for example that Turkey will no longer bomb areas under control of the SDF.

Ultranationalists give impetus

The first impetus for new negotiations came from the Ultranationalists of the MHP party, government partner of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The MHP boss Devlet Bahceli had a possible release of Öcalans at the end of last year if the PKK put down the weapons. In December, Öcalan was able to attend the Percurdish Party party officials for the first time in prison for the first time in prison.

The will of the government and also told by Erdogan prepared the ground, said Öcalan. “I take on historical responsibility for this call.” The deputy party leader of the Islamic-Conservative Government Party AKP, Efkan Ala, said in a first reaction: “If the terrorist organization takes this call into account, the weapons lays down, gathering and dissolving, Turkey will be freed from its bonds.”

This provides numerous mayors in the southeast of Türkiye. It is politically committed to more rights for Kurds that make up around 20 percent of the Turkish population. The government accuses the party of being an extended arm of the PKK. The one rejects that.

Which has been under great pressure in the stand in the past few weeks. Propurdish mayors were relieved of their office due to allegations of terrorism. MEP Gülüstan Kilic Kocyigit told the dpa that a dissolution of the PKK had to go hand in hand with democratization and an end to the reprisals against Kurdish politicians.