Jailed Kurdish Leader Abdullah Ocalan Calls for End to 40-Year Conflict with Turkey

Jailed Kurdish Leader Abdullah Ocalan Calls for End to 40-Year Conflict with Turkey

Istanbul, February 27 – Jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan called on Thursday for his Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to lay down arms, a move that could potentially end the 40-year-old conflict with Turkey and have significant political and security implications for the region.

A delegation from Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM Party visited Ocalan in his island prison on Thursday and later delivered his message in Istanbul. "I am calling for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call," Ocalan said in a letter made public by DEM Party members.

Ocalan wants his party to hold a congress and formally request its dissolution, they reported.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. Since the PKK's insurgency began in 1984, more than 40,000 people have died as the group fought for an autonomous Kurdish homeland. Over time, the PKK shifted away from separatist aims and instead sought greater autonomy in southeastern Turkey and expanded Kurdish rights.

Ocalan’s appeal could have important implications for the oil-exporting region of northern Iraq, where the PKK is based, and neighboring Syria, which has emerged from a 13-year civil war and the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad in December.

A Turkey-PKK peace process collapsed a decade ago. However, an associate of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed such a move by Ocalan four months ago.