 leader Abdullah Öcalan and #Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) are calling for concrete legal measures to push forward peace efforts with the outlawed #PKK.){kind=link}
Jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan and Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) are calling for concrete legal measures to push forward peace efforts with the outlawed PKK.
Öcalan, who has been held in İmralı Island prison since 1999, met with his lawyers for the first time in six years on Monday, according to the Asrın Law Office. His lawyers said he believes efforts to end the decades-long conflict with the PKK have reached a stage where new laws are needed to protect militants who laid down arms and to address Kurdish demands for political and cultural rights.
In July 30 PKK militants burned their weapons in northern Iraq, a symbolic first step after Öcalan earlier this year urged the group to lay down arms and disband. The PKK announced in May it would comply. More than 40,000 people have been killed since the group launched its insurgency in 1984.
According to the Asrın Law Office, Öcalan told his lawyers the Kurdish question has political, social, economic and cultural dimensions and that addressing them requires interim legislation. He said he remains committed to coexistence within a “democratic nation” framework. His lawyers said Öcalan viewed the rare meeting with his lawyers as a sign that “a door has been opened through the law.”
There are now expectations that the Turkish government will reciprocate the PKK’s move with legal steps that will include protections for militants who lay down their arms and the meeting of demands from the country’s Kurds to expand their political and cultural rights.
DEM Party parliamentary group deputy chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit echoed similar views on Wednesday, urging a parliamentary commission established last month to both consult with Öcalan and prioritize the drafting of legal measures. The commission is tasked with advancing efforts to end the PKK’s armed campaign and promote legal and political reconciliation with the country’s Kurds.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, she said the Kurdish question must be addressed not only as a political matter but also in its economic, social and cultural dimensions.
Koçyiğit said that symbolic gestures are no longer enough and called for “concrete, practical steps” to ensure the peace process delivers results. She said the commission should urgently prepare legislation enabling PKK militants who lay down their arms to return to Turkey without facing prosecution, a step that previous peace efforts lacked.
“The commission must hear from Öcalan, the main actor who initiated this process, if we want real progress,” she said, adding that a sub-commission should be dispatched to İmralı and that parliament should quickly begin drafting the legal framework required.
Both Öcalan and the DEM Party stressed that without legal guarantees and institutional reforms, hopes for a durable peace and democratic solution to the Kurdish question risk fading once again.
Designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, the PKK had originally fought for an independent Kurdish state in the southeast but later demanded only greater Kurdish rights and democratic reforms.
The renewed peace process was initiated in October 2024 by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, a key government ally. Bahçeli publicly called on jailed PKK leader Öcalan to urge the militant group to lay down its arms. Öcalan responded in February with a message calling on the PKK to disarm and disband.
The PKK began its insurgency in 1984. It decided in May to disband, disarm and end its armed campaign, saying it “has completed its historic mission” in line with Öcalan’s call.
The DEM Party facilitated the talks between Öcalan and Ankara during the process by regularly visiting Öcalan in prison.