Turkey’s Kurdish Peace Push: Erdogan Ally Calls for Release of PKK Founder

A senior Turkish nationalist politician has sparked controversy by calling for the potential release of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party and a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made the unexpected appeal as part of a broader initiative to disarm the organisation and pursue reconciliation with Turkey’s Kurdish population.The proposal represents a significant shift in Turkish politics, where the PKK has long been designated as a terrorist organisation. Öcalan, who has been held in a high-security prison on an island near Istanbul since 1999, was sentenced to death for leading an armed insurgency that claimed tens of thousands of lives during the 1990s and 2000s.The development signals that sections of the Turkish government may be exploring possibilities for de-escalation following decades of conflict. Any release of Öcalan would require major constitutional changes and would likely face substantial opposition from hardline nationalist elements within Turkey, as well as scrutiny from international observers. The initiative appears aimed at creating conditions for a lasting settlement with the Kurdish population, though the practical and political obstacles to such a move remain considerable.

Source: Maariv — Original article in Hebrew.