ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli on Tuesday proposed allowing jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan to address the Turkish parliament and declare the dissolution of the armed group.
The ultranationalist leader called for Ocalan to deliver a speech inside the legislature in front of the parliamentary bloc of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
“If the isolation of the terrorist leader [Ocalan] is lifted, let him come and speak at the DEM Party Group Meeting in the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Let him proclaim that terrorism has been completely eradicated and that the organization has been dissolved,” Bahceli said during a speech to his party’s bloc inside the Turkish parliament.
Bahceli, whose party is an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), added that Ocalan should benefit from the “right to hope” law. The PKK leader is serving life imprisonment on Imrali Island. The law could pave the way for Ocalan’s freedom if certain conditions are met.
“Neither Qandil nor Edirne - let the address extend from Imrali to DEM, and let this heavy and historical terrorism issue be completely removed from the country's agenda,” he pleaded in reference to Mount Qandil where Ankara alleges the is PKK based and Edirne Prison where the former pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtas is imprisoned.
For years, the MHP leader has been a stubborn opponent of pro-Kurdish parties in the country, including the DEM Party, for their alleged PKK affiliation.
In December 2023, Bahceli said a “legal burial” of the DEM Party was imperative for peace in Turkey, and attacked the party’s co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan for saying Turkey’s isolation of Ocalan and lack of a solution for the Kurdish issue have obstructed peace in the country.
Bahceli suggested cutting the funds of the DEM party and the salaries of its MPs.
DEM Party co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari responded to Bahceli on Tuesday, stating that ending the isolation of Ocalan is a requirement for any form of a peace process to start in the country, adding that her party is ready to launch an initiative.
“If there is to be a beginning, the isolation must be lifted immediately. We are ready to take the initiative for an honorable peace,” Hatimogullari said inside the parliament.
The DEM Party is routinely accused of being the political wing of the PKK, a Kurdish group founded in 1978 that declared war against the Turkish state in 1984. The group initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now calls for autonomy. It has been declared a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, European Union, and several other countries. This year, it was declared a banned organization by the Iraqi government.
On October 1, however, Bahceli made an unprecedented gesture by greeting members of the DEM Party inside the Turkish parliament. Bahceli extended his hand to DEM Party leaders, including Bakirhan.
Following the move, Bahceli said that “a new era is starting in the country. When we ask for peace in the world, we should maintain peace in our country.”
Hours after Bahceli’s speech on Tuesday, Erdogan said a door has been opened by the alliance of his party with the MHP to “end terror” in the country, adding that it should not be squandered.
“We do not want the historic window of opportunity opened by the People's Alliance to be sacrificed for personal agendas. We want to build a Turkey free of terrorism together,” Erdogan said, referring to the AKP-MHP alliance.
Ocalan was arrested in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1999 and has been in jail since. His lawyers and family several times have been prevented from contacting him. His elder brother Mehmet Ocalan last had a short phone call with him in March 2021. Numerous subsequent requests by lawyers and family to meet the PKK leader have been rejected.
In 2013, the AKP government entered into peace talks with the PKK, paving the way for an unprecedented opening for Kurds in the country. Kurdish politicians were able to speak freely about their rights, something that was previously taboo. The peace talks, which were mediated by DEM Party’s predecessor, the HDP, collapsed in 2015 and were followed by intense urban fighting in the country’s southeastern Kurdish areas.
