Turkey’s jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to disarm and disband on Thursday, a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Ankara and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region.
If the PKK leadership heeds its founder’s call to lay down its arms, which is not guaranteed, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would gain a historic opportunity to pacify and develop southeastern Turkey, where violence has killed thousands of people and devastated the regional economy.
Meanwhile, Ocalan himself, now 75, could see his dream of peace during his lifetime realised after having been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul in near-total isolation since 1999.
In neighbouring Syria, the new administration could assert greater control over its Kurdish north as it seeks to rebuild a nation fractured by civil war, while peace would also remove a constant flashpoint in Kurdish-run, oil-rich northern Iraq, where the PKK set up its base two decades ago.
“I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call,” Ocalan said in a letter made public by Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party members.
Ocalan wants his party to hold a congress and to formally agree to dissolve itself, they quoted him as saying.
A DEM delegation visited Ocalan on Thursday inthe prison on Imrali island and later delivered his message in nearby Istanbul, a photo of them together with Ocalan projected onto the wall behind them.
There was no immediate response from the PKK headquarters in the mountains of northern Iraq, while Kurdish-led forces in Syria said Ocalan’s message was “positive”.
In the first reaction to Ocalan’s appeal from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, its deputy chairman Efkan Ala said Turkey would be “free of its shackles” if the PKK truly laid down its arms.
The group is deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.
Kurdish rights
More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its armed campaign in 1984 for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey. It has since moved away from its separatist goals and instead sought more autonomy for southeast Turkey and greater Kurdish rights.
Devlet Bahceli, a Turkish ultra-nationalist leader and close political ally of Erdogan, proposed in October that Ocalan order his fighters to end their armed struggle – a decade after a previous Turkey-PKK peace process collapsed. Bahceli suggested that Ocalan might be released if he made such a call.
In his message on Thursday, Ocalan said the armed struggle had “run its course”, though he also urged Turkey to show respect for ethnic minorities, freedom of expression and the right to democratic self-organisation.
The pro-Kurdish political movement, the target of a years-long judicial crackdown, will hope Ocalan’s move helps usher in democratic reforms and cultural and language rights in Turkey.
For Ankara, a peace deal would relieve a burden on its security forces, ease social tensions and boost the mainly Kurdish southeast’s under-developed economy. It would also be a major coup for Erdogan, who has taken some steps during his two decades in power to resolve the issue.
The PKK insurgency largely centered on the southeast but also involved deadly attacks in Istanbul and other Turkish cities. Most of those killed in the conflict were PKK militants.
Syria fallout
Some analysts said growing regional instability had prompted the government’s abrupt turnaround on Ocalan. It allowed the opposition DEM Party to meet him first in late December, shortly after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad.
Erdogan has said he believes “ultimately brotherhood, unity, togetherness and peace will win”. But if this path is blocked, he said: “We will not hesitate to use the iron fist of our state wrapped in a velvet glove.”
The precarious situation of Kurdish forces in Syria, where Islamist rebels ousted Assad after 13 years of civil war, as well as uncertainty about Turkey’s intentions have left many Kurds anxious about the way ahead.
While Erdogan has voiced support for Bahceli’s initiative, Turkish military action against the PKK in Iraq and what it regards as its affiliate in northern Syria, the YPG, has continued unabated.
The United States deems the PKK terrorists but it has been allied with the YPG’s umbrella group in the fight against Islamic State in Syria. However, there is uncertainty over how long this may continue under President Donald Trump, and with an Ankara-friendly administration in Damascus.
While Ocalan is still revered by the pro-Kurdish political movement, it is unclear how much influence he retains over the PKK fighters.
In a statement to mark the anniversary of Ocalan’s capture in 1999, the PKK said: “Leader Apo will start a new process, a process of change, transformation and reconstruction for everyone,” using its nickname for Ocalan.
“Leader Apo and the Kurds will not divide Turkey, but will work for the democratisation of Turkey on the basis of Kurdish freedom.”
SDF chief says PKK disarmament call ‘not related to us in Syria’
The commander of the Kurdish-led forces that control northeastern Syria said that a call by the leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey for the PKK to dissolve did not apply to the group he leads.
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi said he welcomed the historic call by Abdullah Ocalan for the PKK to drop its decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state, which he said would have positive consequences in the region.
But Abdi said the long-imprisoned Ocalan’s announcement on Thursday applied only to the PKK and was “not related to us in Syria.”
Abdi’s comment signaled Ocalan’s announcement would have no immediate impact on the SDF despite the affiliation of Syria’s main Kurdish groups at the core of the SDF – the People’s Protection Units (YPG) – to the PKK.
Turkey says the YPG is indistinguishable from the PKK and has along with Turkish-aligned Syrian armed factions battled the group.
“If there is peace in Turkey, that means there is no excuse to keep attacking us here in Syria,” Abdi said.
Abdi’s group established control over Kurdish areas of northern Syria after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and later became a major U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State, further expanding the area under its control.
The SDF had little conflict with the Syrian army under then- President Bashar al-Assad. Now, the SDF faces calls by the new Damascus administration that ousted Assad in December to merge into newly-minted state security forces.
Turkey is one of the new Syrian administration’s main supporters.
Abdi has expressed a willingness for his forces to be part of the new defense ministry, but said they should join as a bloc rather than individuals, an idea rejected by the new government.
Neither the SDF nor the Kurdish-led administration was invited to a national dialog conference convened in Damascus on Feb. 25. The Kurdish-led administration said the conference did not represent Syrians.
Abdi said Syrian Kurdish authorities would be organizing their own local dialog on the future of the northeastern region.
International reactions
The White House on Thursday welcomed a call by Turkey’s jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan for his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down arms.
“It’s a significant development and we hope that it will help assuage our Turkish allies about US counter-ISIS partners in northeast Syria. We believe it will help bring peace to this troubled region,” said Brian Hughes, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
Iraq has welcomed on Thursday the call by Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), for it to lay down arms, considering this step ‘positive and important’ to achieve stability in the region, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“We warmly welcome the message of Mr Ocalan and his call for disarmament and the cessation of PKK’s armed struggle,” Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, said in a statement.
“In the Kurdistan Region, we fully support the peace process and are prepared to play a facilitating role and provide any assistance necessary to advance the process.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed Ocalan’s call to down arms and dissolve the PKK, a government spokesperson said.
“Ocalan’s call offers a chance at last to overcome this violent struggle and reach a lasting peaceful development in the Kurdish question,” the spokesperson said.
A German foreign ministry spokesperson said: “An end to violence is an important first step, but more steps are needed to reach a sustainable solution for people in Turkey. That includes respecting and upholding Kurds’ cultural and democratic rights.”
“We welcome progress towards peace and security for the people of Turkey, a close NATO Ally and longstanding partner in counter-terrorism. We encourage all parties to engage in a peaceful and constructive process that ensures security, stability, and respect for the rule of law,” a UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said.
“The UK remains committed to supporting efforts that reduce conflict and promote stability both in Turkey and across the wider region.”
“We maintain our stance that the Kurdish issue should be addressed and resolved transparently, under the roof of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, by encompassing all segments of society … The call for the terrorist organization to lay down its arms and dissolve itself is important (and) we hope it will act upon the requirements of this call,” Ozgur Ozel, head of Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) said.
“No matter what name or justification is given, this process is nothing more than a lifelong presidency bargain by tampering with the definition of the nation. It serves no other purpose,” Chairman of Turkey’s nationalist opposition IYI Party, Musavat Dervisoglu, stated.
“Rest assured, those in power will stop at nothing to achieve this — there is no lie they won’t tell, no domestic or foreign concession they won’t make,” Dervisoglu added.
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