Imprisoned Kurdish leader Ocalan calls on PKK to end war with Turkey

Abdullah Ocalan, Turkey's jailed militant leader, has called on his Kurdish group to lay down arms and dissolve in order to end four decades of conflict which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The call Thursday has far-reaching political and security consequences for the region, provided that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leadership heeds its founder's demand, which is not guaranteed. 

In a message from his prison on an island off Istanbul, Ocalan said that the PKK should hold a congress and decide to disband. Now 75, Ocalan has been held in solitary confinement since 1999 on Imrali prison island.

“All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself,” his message read. "I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility for this call."

In 1978, he founded the group which began an insurgency demanding independence and, more recently, broader autonomy in Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast.  

A Marxist-inspired group, it is blacklisted as a "terrorist" organization by Turkey, the United States, the European Union and many other Western countries.

Last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli, offered Ocalan parole if his group fully disbands. 

Despite his incarceration, he continues to wield significant influence over the PKK. The group’s leadership is widely expected to heed any call Ocalan makes, although some factions within the group could resist.

The peace effort comes at a time when Erdogan seeks to enact a new constitution that could allow him to stay in power.

The Turkish Constitution doesn’t allow Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003 as prime minister and later as president, to run for office again unless an early election is called.

That would require the support of the pro-Kurdish opposition DEM party in parliament. The party has long pressed for greater democracy in Turkey, rights for the country’s Kurdish population and to improve conditions for the imprisoned Ocalan. 

There was no immediate reaction from the PKK’s leadership, which is based in northern Iraq.

Iraq's Kurdistan regional president Nechirvan Barzani welcomed the call.

"We warmly welcome Ocalan's message... and we call on the PKK to adhere to and implement this message," Barzani said on X. "We in the Kurdistan region fully support the peace process," he added.

The leader of the Syrian Kurdish militias that are affiliated with the PKK said Ocalan's call will not affect the SDF group which is supported by the US.

"The PKK's call to lay down their arms concerns them and does not concern our forces in Rojava (northeastern Syria)," said Mazloum Abdi.

In the predominantly Kurdish cities of Diyarbakir and Van in southeast Turkey, people gathered in public spaces, dancing in anticipation of the announcement, news agencies said. 

UN chief Antonio Gutteres "welcomes this important development," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. "This represents a glimmer of hope which would lead to a resolution of a long standing conflict."

The German foreign ministry said, "An end to the violence is the important first step, but further steps are needed.

"This includes, above all, respecting and guaranteeing the cultural and democratic rights of Kurds in Turkey," a ministry spokesman said. "As the federal government, we are ready to do what we can to support such a process."

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