Pro-Kurdish party leader says new facility built for Öcalan, urges steps in peace process

A senior pro-Kurdish politician confirmed reports that a new facility has been built on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara for jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, as he urged the Turkish government to take concrete steps to revive a stalled peace process.

Tuncer Bakırhan, co-chair of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), said in an interview with Medya Haber TV on Friday that a structure had been constructed for Öcalan but that its legal status remained unclear.

“We have said the place where he will stay should be clearly defined and that these arrangements should be completed without delay,” Bakırhan said.

“There is a structure prepared for him, a kind of compound, but what it will be called and what its legal status will be remains unclear. How it will be described when he moves there needs to be clarified. I think there could be developments on this issue soon.”

Öcalan has been held on İmralı Island since his capture in 1999 and is serving a life sentence. He has played a central role in past and recent efforts to end Turkey’s decades-long conflict with the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.

Bakırhan’s remarks come amid what the government describes as a “terrorism-free Turkey” process aimed at ending the conflict, though he criticized the lack of tangible progress.

The new process was launched following a surprise call from the country’s far-right leader, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli, in October 2024 and endorsed by his political ally President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Bahçeli asked Öcalan to instruct his group to renounce its armed campaign while hinting that the end of PKK violence could lead to Öcalan’s freedom.

Öcalan made a landmark call in February 2025, urging the PKK to convene a congress, lay down its arms and formally disband.

Following the call, the PKK announced in May 2025 that it would lay down its weapons and dissolve itself.

Öcalan’s call was widely viewed as a potential turning point in efforts to end the conflict, although questions remained about the legal and political framework that would accompany such a process.

“We have reached a point where rhetoric and general descriptions are no longer enough. People expect concrete steps,” he said, calling on the government to present a clear roadmap.

Bakırhan also said the DEM Party is working on a draft law aimed at building trust between the parties, noting that many Kurds remain skeptical due to past experiences.

“There is a need for a legal framework that can convince all sides,” he said.

Turkey previously engaged in a peace process with the PKK between 2013 and 2015, during which Öcalan played a key role from prison by issuing messages calling for a ceasefire and negotiations. The process collapsed in 2015 amid renewed violence, leading to intensified military operations and a broader crackdown on Kurdish political actors.

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.

The PKK, founded by Öcalan in 1978, has waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claiming more than 40,000 lives.