A protester holds up a placard bearing a portrait of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). File
| Photo Credit: AFP
Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of Turkiye’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK said in a statement issued by the pro-Kurdish DEM party on Sunday (December 29, 2024) that he is willing to contribute to peace between Turks and Kurds,
“I possess the necessary competence and determination to contribute positively to the new paradigm supported by Mr. Bahçeli and Mr. Erdogan,” the statement read, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Nationalist ally, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP.
Mr. Ocalan has been serving a life term in prison on the Imrali island off Istanbul since 1999, after being convicted of treason. The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous state in Turkiye’s southeast since 1984, and the violence has claimed tens of thousands of lives. The group is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkiye and its Western allies.
Devlet Bahceli, who has traditionally maintained a hardline stance against the PKK, had surprised everyone in October when he suggested in the Parliament that Mr. Ocalan could be granted parole if he renounced violence and disbanded the PKK.
Erdogan offered tacit support for his ally a week later. At the time Ocalan himself had said he was ready to work for peace in a message conveyed by his nephew.
Two senior members of DEM, or the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, Pervin Buldan and Sirri Sureyya Onder met with Mr. Ocalan at his prison island on Saturday (Dec. 28). The meeting was closed to the press, and no details were released until the following day.
Sunday’s (Dec. 29) one-page statement offers bullet points of what was discussed in the meeting, — a call for all parties to work together for peace.
“This is an era of peace, democracy, and fraternity for Türkiye and the region,” reads the statement’s last line.
Published – December 30, 2024 01:23 pm IST
