Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Abdullah Ocalan’s appeal for his outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to disband and disarm was a “historic opportunity” as senior members of the president’s party demanded the dissolution of PKK affiliates in Iraq and Syria.
“We have a historic opportunity to advance towards the objective of destroying the wall of terror”, Erdogan said on Friday, a day after the jailed PKK founder’s statement.
In a momentous message from prison, Ocalan called on the PKK to convene a congress and take the decision to lay down arms and dissolve itself. The message, relayed by Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party officials, was part of a new initiative to end a decades-long war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies, has led a decades-long rebellion against the Turkish state.
The PKK’s leadership, which is based in northern Iraq, has not yet responded to Ocalan’s call.
Erdogan said Turkiye would “keep a close watch” to make sure the talks to end the rebellion were “brought to a successful conclusion”, warning against any “provocations”.
“When the pressure of terrorism and arms is eliminated, the space for politics in democracy will naturally expand,” Erdogan said.
Earlier on Friday, Omer Celik, the spokesperson for Erdogan’s governing AK Party, said all groups associated with the PKK, including those outside of Turkiye, should comply with the call.
“Regardless of whether they are called PKK, YPG or PYD, all extensions of the terrorist organisation must dissolve themselves,” Celik said, in reference to the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units and its political wing.
“We mean the complete liquidation of the organisation and its elements in Iraq and Syria.”
‘Ball is in the government’s court’
In Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF – which includes the YPG – welcomed Ocalan’s call for disarmament as an “opportunity” to build peace and a key to opening correct and constructive relations in the region.
Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the SDF, said that Ocalan’s call concerned the PKK and had “no connection to our forces.”
Meanwhile, the DEM Party said it wants immediate steps towards democratisation from Erdogan’s government.
“The government should assume responsibility and take steps for democratisation now. This is our demand as citizens of this country,” Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit, deputy chair of the DEM Party’s parliamentary group, said.
“Now the ball is in the government’s court,” she said. “If there is no democratisation and the government continues to ignore our fundamental freedoms, how will we be able to live together and build our future?”
Turkiye has in recent decades removed restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language, particularly since Erdogan’s AK Party came to power in 2002. However, some critics say that the state has not gone far enough in granting more rights to Kurds in Turkiye.
The new effort for peace between the PKK and the Turkish state was initiated in October by Erdogan’s coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli. The far-right politician suggested that Ocalan could be granted parole if his group renounces violence and disbands.
Ocalan, 75, has been imprisoned on the island of Imrali, off Istanbul, since 1999, after being convicted of treason. Despite his incarceration, he continues to wield significant influence over the PKK, which he founded in 1978.
Previous peace efforts with the PKK have ended in failure, most recently in 2015.