ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan on Sunday called for renewed Kurdish-Turkish relations, days after the PKK announced plans to dissolve itself and end its armed struggle as part of a peace process with Turkey. His message was relayed by Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
Ocalan emphasized the “need for a new covenant based on the law of brotherhood,” describing “the nature of the Turkish-Kurdish relationship” as entirely unique.” He stated, “What has been damaged is the relationship between brothers; brothers may quarrel, but one cannot be without the other.”
“We are step by step clearing the traps and mines that have disrupted this relationship and repairing the broken roads and bridges,” he added, calling the current developments “a major paradigm shift.”
Ocalan’s latest remarks came shortly after the PKK on Monday announced its intent to disband and end its armed campaign against the Turkish state. The group described the move as a step toward a peaceful resolution to a conflict that has lasted more than 40 years and claimed more than 40,000 lives.
PKK has said it has lost a total of 35,000 fighters since the conflict started.
The PKK’s decision followed a party congress held from May 5 to 7 in the mountains of the Kurdistan Region, where senior commanders responded to Ocalan’s earlier call - relayed in late February by the DEM Party - urging a shift toward political engagement.
The PKK leader’s February message then sparked hope for ending the four-decade-old conflict between Ankara and the PKK.
Sunday’s meeting marks the fifth time DEM Party members have met with Ocalan in the past few months.
The PKK’s Monday announcement has been welcomed by several international actors, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, as well as Kurdish leaders who hailed it as a potential breakthrough for peace and reconciliation.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday stated, "If you separate the Kurds from the Turks, they will be left alone. If you separate the Turks from the Kurds or Arabs, they will also be left alone and weakened.”
“We will be the ones who unite, not those who divide or fragment," the Turkish president added.
A day prior, Erdogan noted that Ankara’s intelligence services will closely monitor the PKK to ensure the group follows through on its pledge to dissolve and end armed struggle.
He also said on Saturday that they are engaged with neighboring countries on how to disarm the PKK.
Of note, on Thursday, the Turkish defense ministry announced that its cross-border operations against the PKK will persist and that its forces are continuing to take “intensive and effective measures” against the PKK at Turkey’s borders with the Kurdistan Region and northeast Syria (Rojava).
Meanwhile, the leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahceli, a key ally of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), also welcomed the development. Bahceli, who first called for renewed peace talks last year, said on Sunday that a “new phase has begun that is sensitive, delicate, fragile and requires patience.”
“No opportunity should be allowed to instigate or strengthen an atmosphere of provocation, or to foster resentment and misunderstandings that may arise for trivial reasons,” the MHP leader warned.
Bahceli further proposed the formation of a new parliamentary commission to draft a national strategy for a “terrorism-free” Turkey. The 100-member commission, he said, should include representatives from all 16 political parties in parliament and be chaired by the speaker of the house.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state but later shifted its focus toward achieving broader political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey.
The group has been labeled as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its allies.
