Abdullah Öcalan announces dissolution of the PKK

After 40 years of war, Abdullah Öcalan, founder and historic leader of the Kurdish PKK (Workers' Party), has called on his party to end the armed conflict. At a completely overcrowded press conference in Istanbul, under a large picture of Abdullah Öcalan, representatives of the Kurdish DEM party, who had visited Öcalan on his prison island İmralı that morning, read out the PKK leader's appeal, which had already been described as "historic". In it, Öcalan unequivocally calls for the arms to be laid down and the PKK to be dissolved. The party should convene a congress to discuss how to continue its work for the Kurdish people unarmed.

At the time of going to press, it was not known whether the Turkish government had promised Öcalan anything in return. There had even been speculation about his release. However, it is questionable whether the 75-year-old wants to leave the island because he is only safe there. It is also completely unclear whether other leading Kurdish politicians such as Selahattin Demirtaş or Figen Yüksekdağ have a chance of being released from prison.

The so-called peace process was initiated by the head of the ultra-nationalist MHP, Devlet Bahçeli, who in October last year called on Abdullah Öcalan to come to the Turkish parliament and announce the dissolution of the PKK. After President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly announced his support for Bahçeli, representatives of the legal Kurdish party DEM, which is the third largest faction in the Turkish parliament, were given permission to visit Öcalan on the prison island of İmralı for the first time in more than ten years . Öcalan has been largely isolated on the island since his arrest in 1999 and has not been allowed to be visited by anyone for years.

After this first meeting, which was attended by Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, two leading DEM representatives who had already played an important role in the predecessor party HDP, the two read out a statement by Öcalan that showed that he was willing to respond to the demands of Bahçeli and Erdoğan. He said, "the restoration of Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility, but also an urgency for all peoples."

After this visit, Buldan, Önder and the senior member of the DEM, Ahmet Türk, met with all parties represented in parliament over several weeks to assess whether a majority in parliament would support a peace process. The result: yes. The two imprisoned former HDP chairmen Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ also declared that every opportunity must be taken to achieve peace.

After a second visit to Öcalan by Buldan, Önder and Türk, all that emerged was that Öcalan was ready to make an important announcement. Before seven representatives of the DEM visited Öcalan on Thursday, the three main negotiators traveled to northern Iraq for two days to meet Masud Barsani, the patriarch of the Democratic Party of Northern Iraq. Barsani no longer officially holds a government office in the autonomous zone - his nephew now leads the government there - but he is still the key man in the background. He is also in constant contact with Erdoğan.

What the Kurdish leadership in Syria has to say about the whole process is not officially known. The Kurdish militia YPG is not officially part of the PKK, but the contacts are very close and the Turkish government sees the YPG as a direct offshoot of the PKK. The new Syrian government is pushing for all militias in the country to hand over their weapons, which the Kurds have so far refused to do. This is another reason why Bahçeli and Erdoğan pushed for a "historic" statement from Öcalan.