Exploratory peace talks are underway between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) despite an ongoing crackdown on Kurdish political figures, the Al-Monitor news website reported, citing unnamed sources close to the Turkish government.
Two of the sources said that Ocalan had been allowed recently to speak directly to the PKK leadership that is based in the Qandil Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan. “Ocalan told them it was time to discuss laying down their arms,” one of the sources said. https://t.co/lXHfiFp7WB
— Amberin Zaman (@amberinzaman) October 10, 2024
After an almost 10-year freeze in peace efforts, Ankara appears to be reconsidering the resumption of dialogue with the PKK. Al-Monitor’s report suggests that the reason for the effort is to prevent Iran from reaching out to Kurdish fighters to destabilize Turkey during a possible escalation with Israel.
Recent handshakes between Devlet Bahçeli, the far-right leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) during the opening session of Parliament has sparked intense speculation over whether a new peace process could be in the works.
Bahçeli, who previously branded Kurdish nationalist lawmakers as “terrorists” and “pests,” reaching out to them so publicly is viewed as a significant shift in the rhetoric of Ankara’s ruling coalition.
The MHP’s longstanding position is to oppose any Kurdish autonomy and demonize the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, viewing it as a political front for the PKK — a group designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The change in attitude has prompted questions about Bahçeli’s motivation and whether this is driven by political calculations as Erdoğan eyes a third term in 2028 or attempts to secure Kurdish votes for his plans to amend the constitution.
According to Al-Monitor, three sources close to the government have indicated that exploratory talks between Turkish officials and Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, are ongoing. Two of these sources stated that Öcalan had been allowed to directly communicate with PKK leadership in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. According to one source, Öcalan urged the PKK to discuss disarming, but the conversation allegedly grew heated when questions about the fate of their fighters were raised. While Al-Monitor reached out to PKK sources to verify this information, no response was received before the article’s publication.
Kurdish sources indicate skepticism about the government’s motivations. Ahmet Türk, co-mayor of Mardin and a veteran Kurdish politician, highlighted the importance of genuine commitment, emphasizing that if the government fails to prepare society for peace, “nothing can be resolved.” Türk stressed the importance of addressing the Kurdish people’s identity and rights rather than treating talks as a tactical maneuver to solve Turkey’s current political problems. He also called for an inclusive democratic constitution, suggesting that without a sincere approach, such efforts are doomed to fail.
Despite the overtures toward dialogue, crackdowns on Kurdish politicians continue across the country. On Thursday police raided the DEM Party’s office in the eastern province of Iğdır and detained its provincial chair, Mehmet Selçuk, along with several other party officials. The DEM Party denounced the arrests as politically motivated, calling them part of a strategy to “stifle Kurdish political expression.”
Meanwhile, the co-chairs of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and the DEM Party were detained in Gaziantep on Friday, in yet another round of arrests. Mustafa Tuç, Mehmet Özkan and Müslüm Denizhan were taken into custody, a move that party members believe is an attempt to intimidate pro-Kurdish parties.
The Turkish government claims that these arrests are part of its fight against terrorism, alleging that Kurdish groups could leverage the current chaos in the Middle East for their own gains. As Israel considers its response to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack on Tel Aviv, Ankara has raised concerns about a spillover of instability. Turkey fears that weakening Iranian militias might lead Tehran to strike deals with the PKK, expanding the influence of armed Kurdish groups on its borders. The government views preemptive dialogue as an essential move to prevent “another Syria,” where a failure to engage the Kurdish minority early on led to the formation of Kurdish-controlled territories beyond central government control.
The Turkish state’s official narrative, as conveyed by Presidential Chief Advisor Mehmet Uçum, remains unyielding: “I don’t think a peace process is currently on the agenda. Negotiations are out of the question.” Instead, Uçum spoke of strengthening democracy within Turkey and moving away from the current constitution as the priority. He asserted that the state will not negotiate with “terrorists” and that maintaining Turkey’s geographical integrity and unitary structure is non-negotiable.
These remarks reflect a deep tension in the ruling coalition’s approach. The question remains whether this new gesture by Bahçeli, and Erdoğan’s backing of his ally, indicates a genuine change of heart or whether it is purely symbolic — a means of projecting unity amid rising nationalist fragmentation and regional instability. Observers note that since 2015, the electoral alliance between Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the MHP has steered the government’s stance towards a hardline nationalist position, fueling suspicions that any potential peace efforts could merely serve as a bargaining chip to achieve other political goals.
This evolving situation has echoes of Turkey’s previous attempt at a peace process that collapsed in 2015. At that time, Erdoğan engaged in negotiations with Öcalan and his Syrian Kurdish allies, announcing a 10-point agreement that envisioned reforms loosening restrictions on Kurdish identity in return for the PKK laying down its arms. However, the peace process unraveled due to a combination of geopolitical factors, including US support for Syrian Kurdish groups in the fight against the Islamic State as well as internal resistance from the Turkish military and the MHP.
Speaking to Al-Monitor, Roj Girasun, co-founder of Rawest, a polling and research outfit based in Diyarbakır, explained that the sentiment among Kurds has shifted since then. “Most Kurds see their future in peaceful democratic politics rather than in armed struggle,” Girasun was quoted as saying. However, sympathy for the PKK and DEM Party remains intertwined, as families have lost thousands of loved ones during the decades-long conflict.
For now, Bahçeli’s handshake with DEM Party representatives and his call for “national unity and brotherhood” are a notable gesture but remain highly ambiguous. Erdoğan has welcomed Bahçeli’s move, lauding it as a step toward reconciliation among Turkey’s 85 million citizens. Yet, the government continues to restrict public protests, such as the recently denied rally in Diyarbakır that was planned to call for an end to Öcalan’s isolation in prison.
In the coming weeks, the world will watch closely to see if these initial signals develop into meaningful steps toward resolving one of Turkey’s most intractable conflicts. “Should DEM play its cards well, and should Erdoğan give them something concrete to work with, this time around things could turn out differently for the Kurds,” one of Al-Monitor’s sources speculated. But with ongoing detentions, restrictive policies and hardline rhetoric persisting, skepticism abounds among the Kurdish community about whether a genuine peace process is really on the table, or if it is simply another round of political maneuvering by Erdoğan to maintain his grip on power.