A new message from Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed founder of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), will be made public on February 27, the anniversary of his 2025 call urging the group to lay down its arms and dissolve, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has announced.
In a statement on Wednesday the DEM Party said Öcalan’s message will be shared at a conference to be held in Ankara on Friday marking the first anniversary of his February 27 appeal.
“We will share our assessments regarding the current stage reached in the democratic resolution of the Kurdish conflict and the future of the process, as well as Mr. Öcalan’s new message on the process, with the press and the public,” the party said.
Öcalan, who has been held in İmralı Prison since 1999, made a landmark call on February 27, 2025, urging the PKK to convene a congress, lay down its arms and formally disband.
In his landmark appeal, titled “Peace and Democratic Society,” he said, “As in the case of any modern community and party whose existence has not been abolished by force, you must voluntarily convene your congress and make a decision: All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself.”
The PKK, founded by Öcalan in 1978, has waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claiming more than 40,000 lives. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Öcalan’s 2025 appeal, which came following an unexpected call from Turkey’s far-right leader Devlet Bahçeli, led to a renewed peace initiative after years of stalled dialogue between the government and the PKK.
His call was widely viewed as a potential turning point in efforts to end the decades-long conflict, although questions remained about the legal and political framework that would accompany such a process.
The DEM Party said Friday’s conference will focus on developments in the process over the past year and outline expectations for the next phase.
Öcalan’s new call will come amid debates over whether he will be released from prison as part of the ongoing peace talks.
In a speech on Tuesday Bahçeli called for a public debate on the legal status of Öcalan, asking how his legal status will be addressed in the context of Turkey’s ongoing peace initiative.
“How will the status issue concerning İmralı [Öcalan], who serves the goal of a terrorism-free Turkey, be resolved?” Bahçeli asked. He said the matter should be frankly discussed and resolved in line with reason and conscience.
The current initiative traces back to October 2024, when Bahçeli, a longtime nationalist hardliner and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s key political ally, shook hands with DEM Party lawmakers in parliament and suggested that Öcalan be allowed to address the legislature, a move widely interpreted as a signal that the government was ready for a new attempt at a settlement, having failed in an earlier peace process that collapsed in 2015.
The PKK announced its decision to lay down arms and dissolve in May and began to withdraw its militants from Turkey.
A parliamentary commission, tasked with advancing the peace efforts and established last August, recently finalized a draft report outlining legal reforms linked to the peace process.
The report does not explicitly address Öcalan’s possible release and does not use the term “right to hope.” However, it refers to European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Turkish Constitutional Court rulings concerning sentence enforcement. Legal experts note that such language implicitly touches on the “right to hope” principle, which requires that even prisoners serving life sentences have a realistic prospect of release after a certain period.
Critics have noted that the commission has no enforcement power, no independent monitors and that its work remains tied to Erdoğan’s own political calculations including his need for additional parliamentary support to extend his presidency beyond its 2028 constitutional limit.