ROME, Mar 05 (IPS) – “The PKK (Kurdistan Employees’ Occasion) ought to dissolve. I make this name and take historic duty,” learn the letter from Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned chief of the Kurdish guerrilla, on Thursday, 27 February.
The assertion was learn at a press convention by members of the Folks’s Equality and Democracy Occasion (DEM)—Turkey’s pro-Kurdish and progressive political celebration—and broadcast on social media.
After 4 many years of armed battle between the Kurdish guerrillas and the Turkish state, there gave the impression to be a chance to deliver one of many longest-running disputes within the Center East to an finish.
As soon as once more, Abdullah Öcalan emerges as a central determine. Born in ?anl?urfa (Ankara-controlled Kurdistan) in 1949, he was one of many founders of the PKK, which he led into armed battle in 1984.
After years of directing the group from exile in Syria, Öcalan was captured in 1999 in Kenya by Turkish particular forces whereas travelling from the Greek embassy to Nairobi airport.
He has since been serving a life sentence for prices of “treason” and “terrorism” on ?mral?, a small island within the Sea of Marmara between European and Asian Turkey, which homes a high-security jail.
There are 40 million Kurds unfold throughout Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Half of them stay underneath Ankara’s rule, the place their calls for for primary rights —corresponding to recognition of Kurdish id, freedom of expression, and different democratic ensures— have traditionally been met with repression.
Earlier makes an attempt at reconciliation between Ankara and the PKK —together with the latest in 2013 and 2009— failed. As early as 2004, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, now Turkey’s president however then prime minister, vowed to resolve the Kurdish concern.
Again in 1993, Turkey’s then-president, Turgut Özal, publicly acknowledged his Kurdish heritage and advocated for peace and dialogue. Nonetheless, he was discovered lifeless in his workplace, with causes starting from “cardiac arrest” and allegations of poisoning. Özal´s demise additionally put an finish to what had been a promising peace initiative.
“Öcalan’s newest letter is a continuation of that 1993 peace initiative. This might be the final likelihood for a democratic resolution between the Kurdish folks and the Turkish state,” PKK spokesman Zagros Hiwa informed IPS over the telephone from the Kurdish mountains.
The guerrilla fighter recalled that the PKK had declared greater than ten unilateral ceasefires for the reason that armed battle started in 1984, the most recent being introduced final Saturday.
A Recurring Sample
For the Kurds, it is a well-worn cycle of failed peace efforts. Each try by the PKK to provoke dialogue has positioned the ball in Turkey’s court docket, but Ankara has by no means performed it again. Maybe this explains why so many Kurds stay sceptical.
“That is the déjà vu we expertise each 5 or ten years,” mentioned Mehmet Ok., a Kurdish journalist who writes underneath a pseudonym for safety causes, chatting with IPS by telephone from Amed (the capital of Turkish Kurdistan).
In his newest letter, Öcalan harassed that the method requires “the popularity of a democratic coverage and a authorized framework.” Nonetheless, in contrast to in earlier appeals, he supplied no particulars on particular calls for or a proposed roadmap.
Sources inside DEM confirmed to IPS that the PKK management in Qandil had been consulted earlier than the doc’s publication. Additionally they emphasised that discretion was key and that particulars can be mentioned “at a negotiation desk with the Turkish state and political events.”
“At first look, it looks like a clean cheque. We don’t know what they’re asking for in alternate for his or her dissolution, so all we are able to do is speculate,” mentioned Dünya Ba?ol, a political analyst and professor of Worldwide Relations at Batman College in japanese Turkey, chatting with IPS from Ankara.
Based on Ba?ol, doable concessions may embrace recognition of Kurdish language rights, corresponding to cultural programmes in native councils, in addition to easing restrictions on civil actions and the potential launch of political prisoners.
“In some methods, it might be a return to Turkey’s Sixties, when Kurds had better freedom of expression and tensions had been decrease,” the analyst identified. Nonetheless, a army coup in 1971 put an finish to that interval of relative openness.
A “New Paradigm”
From the Kurdish Peace Institute—an impartial analysis organisation primarily based in Washington with workplaces in Kurdistan—researcher Kamal Chomani expressed “blended emotions” about Öcalan’s latest assertion.
“Historical past pushes me in direction of pessimism, however we can not surrender when there’s even the slightest likelihood of peace,” Chomani informed IPS by telephone from Leipzig, Germany. He famous that the announcement comes at “a historic second when the Center East is being reshaped.”
Based on Chomani, doable Kurdish calls for may embrace constitutional recognition of the Kurdish language, amnesty for guerrilla fighters, some autonomy, and better political illustration inside the Turkish state.
“This could be a roadmap that Turkey should settle for if it desires lasting peace,” he argued. He additionally harassed that the Kurdish concern “is now not only a safety drawback or an inner affair, however a world matter that Turkey can now not ignore.”
The Kurds in Syria, simply throughout Turkey’s southern border, have been self-governing since 2012 underneath the ideas of democratic confederalism—a progressive and decentralised political mannequin outlined by Öcalan whereas in captivity.
Ankara has responded to this ideological affinity with army interventions in Kurdish-Syrian areas, utilizing allied Islamist militias to grab territory and displace tons of of hundreds. In the meantime, Turkish airstrikes on key infrastructure in northeast Syria proceed unabated.
However with Turkey’s rising affect following the autumn of Assad’s regime in Syria—changed by an Islamist authorities sympathetic to Ankara— what incentive does Erdo?an have to supply something to the Kurds?
Chomani questions the character of Turkey’s supposed victory and believes there are nonetheless many unanswered questions.
“Turkey is militarily stronger than in 2015, however economically and socially, it’s far weaker. Furthermore, we nonetheless don’t know what course Syria will take underneath Ahmed Al Sharaa (the nation’s present president). I consider he’ll align extra intently with the Saudis, Turkey’s regional rivals,” Chomani defined.
Whereas the PKK has overtly expressed its willingness to disarm, the Kurdish-Syrian forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces —whom Ankara considers an extension of the PKK— have distanced themselves from any potential disarmament as a part of a Turkish peace course of.
Based on Chomani, Öcalan´s latest announcement marks a “new paradigm” wherein armed battle would get replaced by political and social activism.
“The guerrillas would have taken this step again in 1993 had Özal’s initiative succeeded,” lamented the Kurdish knowledgeable. Three many years and tens of hundreds of deaths later, the ball is as soon as once more in Turkey’s court docket.
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