Jailed PKK Leader Ocalan Says Armed Struggle with Türkiye Over
Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), appeared in a rare online video on Wednesday to declare the group’s armed struggle against Türkiye over and called for a full transition to democratic politics.
In the recording, dated June and released by Firat News Agency, which is close to the PKK, Ocalan urged Türkiye’s parliament to set up a commission to oversee disarmament and manage a broader peace process.
“The phase of armed struggle has ended. This is not a loss, but a historic gain,” he said. “The armed struggle stage must now be voluntarily replaced by a phase of democratic politics and law.”
The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades and is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, decided in May to disband after an initial written appeal from Ocalan in February.
Since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984 – originally with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state – the conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, imposed a heavy economic burden and fueled deep social and political divisions.
The video marks a rare and potentially pivotal moment in the long-running conflict, offering what could be President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s most significant opportunity yet to seal a political settlement to the Kurdish issue, should his government choose to respond, Reuters reported.
It also comes before PKK militants begin handing over their weapons in groups in northern Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah on Friday, in a major step in the process.
Seated in a beige polo shirt with a glass of water on the table in front of him, Ocalan appeared to read from a transcript in the seven-minute video – the first public footage or audio of him since his arrest in 1999. Six other jailed PKK members sat beside him, all looking directly at the camera.
He said the PKK, which has been based in northern Iraq’s mountainous regions in recent years, had ended its separatist agenda.
“The main objective has been achieved – existence has been acknowledged. What remains would be excessive repetition and a dead end,” he said.
