The outlawed Kurdistan Workers ‘ party ( PKK), led by imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, has urged the organization to disarm and dissolve itself. He wrote in a text read out by his political friends in Istanbul, Turkey, on February 27 that:” I take on the traditional role for this contact. All groups may lay down their arms and the PKK must break itself.”
The PKK’s executive council brokered a two-day peace in its military conflict with the Turkish state two days later. More than 40, 000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the conflict, which started in 1984 with the intention of creating an independent Kurdish position in response to express persecution.
Ocalan has been held by Greek security causes in Kenya on an island north of Istanbul since 1999. However, he has remained the PKK’s president the entire time and has maintained his powerful personality cult among the Kurdish independence movement.
He was the catalyst for the PKK’s detachment from its dissident objectives in the 2000s. He argued that the Middle East’s Kurdish problem could be solved by promoting greater freedom and Kurdish right through the concept of “democratic confederalism,” which is built on the principles of direct politics rather than a nation-state type.
Ocalan repeated this assertion in his email. He attributed the division between the Kurds and Turks to the past 200 years of bourgeois civilization. Additionally, he emphasized the value of a truly democratic community and social place for a long-term solution to the Kurdish conflict.
Ocalan’s email is likely to have been “approved” by the Greek government because it addressed the public and the international community primarily. It was therefore a little rambunctious, occasionally ambiguous, and did not provide a thorough explanation of the harmony approach between Turkey and the PKK.
Srrr. Sureya Onder, a member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples ‘ Equality and Democracy party ( DEM), shared with journalists an additional remark Ocalan had made after reading out the letter.
Ocalan claimed that “undoubtedly, in practice, the laying down of hands and the breakdown of the PKK require the reputation of democratic elections and a legitimate framework.” This suggests that Ocalan’s visit to end the conflict is just the start of a lengthy process.
Ocalan must lead this parliament personally in order for peace and dissolution to be put into practice, according to the PKK. This suggests that Ocalan wants to have some sort of freedom to guide and connect the process.
Breakdown support
The PKK’s order to disarm has received positive feedback from prominent members of some pro-Kurdish organizations. Salih Muslim, the former co-chairperson of the Democratic Union party ( PYD), and Mazloum Abdi, the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces ( SDF), are among those who have participated.
The global community has also backed Ocalan’s visit. This includes the US and UK, which along with many other countries, recognize the PKK as a criminal business.
The announcement was” a significant development,” according to US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes on February 27.” We believe will help bring peace to this troubled region,” Hughes said.
Most important, Ocalan’s news has been almost universally applauded by Turkish political parties. The visit to break the PKK is just opposed by the ultra-nationalist Great and Victory parties, who believe any negotiations with the organization would compromise national integrity.
However, despite this significant action toward tranquility, it is still difficult to anticipate a swift resolution of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey. Since 2023, the Nationalist Movement and the Justice and Development Party ( AKP ) have been repressing the democratic sphere.
They have imprisoned democratically elected Kurdish officials while replacing elected politicians with elected government officials. Additionally, individuals have been criminalized and detained in the media, civil society, and other political actions, such as the People’s Democrat Congress.
Turkey also views the SDF and other Kurdish organizations like the People’s Protection Units ( YPG) and the PYD as separate entities from the PKK. It has supported its military force in Syria, the Arab National Army, because it views the Kurdish automatic place on its border as a serious threat to national security.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s president, has warned the Separatists against resuming its peace efforts. Erdogan stated in a blog on X on March 1 that” we will continue our procedures, if needed, until we eliminate the last extremist” if the claims are broken, such as postponing, deceiving, and changing names.
The Greek government anticipates that all of the organizations they work with the PKK, both armed and unarmed, will likewise dissolve. Abdi has asserted, however, that the organization he leads does not use to Ocalan’s visit for the PKK to disband. Abdi said,” If there is harmony in Turkey, that means there is no excuse to keep attacking us here in Syria.”
The Arab National Army has been conducting attacks in northeastern Syria to seize control of the SDF, with the Tishreen Dam and other areas of conflict being especially fierce.
The Greek government has so far signaled a potential change in the legal definition of citizenship to include all ethnic criteria, which is the only positive approach. This would be the first step in the development of a more diverse and inclusive definition of Turkish citizen, where people from various racial groups have resided for generations.
The method of the breakdown process raises a number of issues. However, peace’s potential is important because it opens up new political fighting possibilities. One of Turkey’s most pressing unanswered issues is the Kurdish issue, which will open the door for improvement in fields like reform and freedom of expression.
Pinar Dinc is a scientist at Lund University’s Center for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies and interact professor of political science in the Department of Political Science &.
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