After decades of brutal repression at the hands of the war-criminal Turkish state, things suddenly seem to be looking more hopeful for occupied Kurdish communities. Because political prisoner Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has unilaterally called for an end to the group’s conflict with Turkey. Regional developments and some advances in Kurdish rights reportedly convinced him that armed resistance doesn’t make sense anymore and “therefore, the PKK should be dissolved”.
Öcalan unilaterally calls for end to conflict
There are a number of possible reasons for Turkey’s sudden willingness to resume talks with Öcalan, including poor election results last year, a changeover in the US government and its priorities, and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria (which has further increased tensions between Israel and Iran). In particular, negotiations could bring an end to Turkish war crimes against Kurdish-majority communities in northern Syria.
Other PKK leaders have previously insisted that they will respect Öcalan’s wishes. And Kurdish communities around Turkey and beyond have shown their excitement about the prospect of peace.
The Turkish government allowed the main pro-Kurdish Democracy and Equality of Peoples Party (DEM) to visit Öcalan several times in recent weeks, marking an apparent preparation for Öcalan’s statement. But only the coming days and weeks, following Öcalan’s call for peace, will reveal how committed Turkey is to really ending its hostility towards Kurdish communities.
How sincere is the Turkish regime’s change in strategy?
Like Israel, Turkey is a key Western ally with a long record of ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation. And it has recently intensified efforts to force Kurdish-majority communities into submission. The Turkish army is NATO’s second-largest, and has committed numerous war crimes in recent years in an attempt to destroy the left-wing, Kurdish-led Rojava revolution in northern Syria that was key in defeating Daesh (Isis/Isil). And like Israel, Turkey has sought to justify its own campaign of terror by calling its enemies terrorists. The twist, however, is that Rojavan forces haven’t even attacked Turkey.
The Turkish regime’s problem with Rojava is that it drew its left-wing ideology from Öcalan, whose PKK began to fight a war of resistance against the Turkish state in the 1980s after decades of anti-Kurdish repression. Because Turkey claims the PKK are terrorists, its Western allies do too (though the PKK never attacked Western targets). Along with its allies in Rojava and elsewhere, the PKK has long condemned all attacks on civilians. And European courts have criticised the political weaponisation of the ‘terrorist’ designation.
In the 1990s, the PKK clarified that “we want to live within the borders of Turkey on our own land freely”. But centralised states like Turkey oppose this type of self-governance. And along with its military crimes, the Turkish regime has long repressed legal electoral groups at home that have sought to defend Kurdish rights, which it continues to do today. For this reason, there are still significant doubts about Turkey’s sincerity in resolving its longstanding Kurdish question. But because the country’s ruling party suffered a big blow in 2024’s local elections, a change in tactics (however disingenuous) is understandable.
The key role of Syria in pushing Turkey to the table
Geopolitical manoeuvring in the region may well be a factor pushing Turkey to seek less hostile relations with Kurdish communities. Because with a highly controversial group with links to Al-Qaeda now ruling Syria, Turkey’s attacks on Kurdish people seem more ridiculous than ever. As former British diplomat Carne Ross recently told the Canary:
I don’t believe really in designating groups as terrorists, and therefore kind of putting them beyond the pale where you won’t talk to them or deal with them. The PKK represents something real which is the need for self-defence of the Kurdish people in Turkey.
Turkey has also faced some recent political opposition from within the US over its attacks on Rojava because Washington understands how important Rojava’s Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were in defeating Daesh, and maintains strategic relations with the SDF as a result. This is particularly relevant as Daesh has been “making a comeback” following the overthrow of the Assad regime. Meanwhile, the US is only tentatively suspending sanctions on Syria as the new ultra-conservative government tries to prove its servility to Western interests.
The Turkish regime, on the other hand, has ideological affinity with Syria’s extremist rulers and is looking to become a key player in the post-war order. The Syrian government has often excluded Rojava from talks amid tense ongoing negotiations, possibly as a result of Turkish interference. And Turkey may indeed have used this as a bargaining chip to encourage Öcalan’s call to dissolve the PKK.
Whether the current hopes of peace in occupied Kurdistan bloom into something lasting or not, new efforts to bring peace between Turkey and Kurdish communities in the region certainly seem to represent an important and necessary step in the right direction.
Featured image via the Canary
