Abdullah Öcalan from inside his prison: Repairing Turkish-Kurdish relations requires a radical transformation

Jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Öcalan said Sunday a major shift is needed to repair relations between Türkiye and the country’s Kurdish minority following the group’s historic decision to dissolve its organization and disarm.

Öcalan’s message was conveyed by a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) which visited İmralı prison island near Istanbul, where Öcalan has been serving a life sentence in solitary confinement since 1999.

This was his first visit since the party’s dissolution and disarmament was announced on May 12, in an effort to end the conflict that began in 1984 when the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) launched an armed insurgency aimed at establishing a state for Kurds, who constitute approximately 20 percent of Türkiye’s 85 million population.

Since then, more than 40,000 people have been killed.

“What we are doing is a major shift,” Öcalan wrote.

“The Turkish-Kurdish relationship is like a severed fraternal relationship… Brothers and sisters fight, but they cannot live without each other,” he added, calling for “a new agreement based on the concept of brotherhood”.

He added, “We must remove all the traps and minefields that spoil this relationship, and repair the cut-off roads and bridges”.

This time, Dem Party MP Pervin Buldan was the only one to visit Öcalan, accompanied by his lawyer, Özgür Erol, following the recent death of Sürey Süreyya Önder, a prominent architect of the dialogue between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Önder, the deputy speaker of the Turkish parliament, died on May 3 after suffering a heart attack, just days before the PKK’s historic decision.

He has spent years trying to end the conflict with Türkiye’s Kurdish minority.

Since December, he has been part of a delegation that has visited Öcalan several times.

“I was longing to speak with Sirri Süreyya Önder one last time,” Öcalan wrote, saying, “he was a wise person who left behind cherished memories that we must keep alive”.

Ankara has said it will monitor the PKK’s disarmament process.

In contrast, observers expect the Turkish government to demonstrate renewed openness toward the Kurds.

Abdullah Öcalan is unlikely to be released because his life could be threatened, but his prison conditions are likely to be easing, according to Turkish officials say.