Originally published: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2025/07/10/a-voice-from-imrali-after-26-years-ocalan-dissolves-the-kurdistan-workers-party-pkk/
Abdullah Öcalan speaks from his Turkish prison on Imrali island, renewing calls for the end of his PKK movement’s armed struggle. Source: Kurdistan24
‘I believe not in arms, but in the power of politics and social peace, and call on you to put this principle into practice.’
These were the keynote remarks of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan to the recently dissolved Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in his landmark video statement delivered on Wednesday 9 July—a first-time public appearance since his imprisonment on Imrali Prison Island in February 1999.
This moment carried significance beyond a groundbreaking development in the realm of realpolitik. For millions of Kurds and advocates of a peaceful, democratic solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey—many of whom have long campaigned for Öcalan’s freedom as a prerequisite for meaningful dialogue and peace efforts—it represented the fruits of decades of political, legal, and diplomatic work surrounding this issue.
Looking further, the political implications of Öcalan’s video statement—whose ‘legality’ has been contested by the Turkish justice system for months—could be interpreted as a sign that the process officially initiated in October 2024 by Turkish President Erdoğan’s most senior ally and key statesman, Devlet Bahçeli, is materialising into practical steps to bring an end to the 40-year conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK.
Decades of Advocacy Bear Fruit
Despite the harsh conditions of material incarceration and prolonged incommunicado detention, Öcalan remains a game-changing figure in the regional dynamics of the Middle East—particularly in the effort to resolve a longstanding conflict and bury tensions permanently.
It is important to note that Öcalan’s recent calls for peace and an end to armed struggle are not without precedent. Since his imprisonment on Imrali and during earlier attempts to broker peace with Turkish authorities, his insistence on reconciliation has been unwavering—so much so that he is often referred to as the ‘Mandela of the Middle East’.
Philosophy of Peace in a Turbulent Terrain
In the UK, over 15 national trade unions, including GMB and Unite the Union, have endorsed and led the Freedom for Öcalan campaign since 2016. These efforts were driven by confidence in Öcalan’s philosophical vision for a harmonious model of peace and stability in the turbulent terrain of the Middle East—one that bore its first fruits in Rojava, Northeast Syria, during the international fight against ISIS.
In a region where tensions between global powers frequently flare, where wars driven by profit and demographic engineering by monopolised state forces have become the norm, and where militarism and security discourse dominate sovereign politics, Öcalan’s proposals—calling for voluntary disarmament without publicly declared guarantees of constitutional rights, amnesty provisions for political prisoners, and broader peace-building commitments—may stand as both courageous and humble. They come at a time when existential anxiety grips many communities across the region.
The End and a New Beginning
In the early morning hours of tomorrow, Friday 11 July, a group of PKK fighters will publicly lay down their arms in the presence of hundreds of representatives from Turkey’s parliamentary political parties, journalists, civil society groups, and international observers.
This event will formalise the PKK’s 5–7 May Congress decisions to end the method of armed struggle and pave the way for anticipated responses from the Turkish government—particularly in relation to political prisoners, including Abdullah Öcalan, former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, and thousands of others detained on politically motivated charges.
The following morning, on Saturday, President Erdoğan is expected to make a ‘historic announcement’ to the people of Turkey. Soon after, a much-anticipated cross-party parliamentary commission—designated to oversee the peace process—will be formally launched before Parliament goes into summer recess on 15 July.
Walking a Fragile Path to Peace
There is an unmistakable sense of delicacy and fragility surrounding this process, felt more acutely on the Kurdish side but also within elements of the Turkish government.
At a time when provocations—both internal and external—are expected during the resolution of a brutal conflict that has claimed so many lives, both Kurdish representatives, including Öcalan himself, and the leading Turkish statesmen in this process, have refused to step back from the serious and urgent task of resolving this difficult equation.
What is clear is that there have been and continue to be immediate repercussions of resolving the Turkey–PKK conflict, including for the Kurds of Syria.
Regional Ripples: From Ankara to Damascus
On the same Wednesday when Öcalan’s video statement was released and Kurds began celebrating what may mark the end of decades of turmoil, a senior-level delegation—including Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi and Northeast Syria’s chief diplomat Ilham Ahmed—travelled to Damascus for high-level talks. They met with US Special Envoy to Syria and Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, interim Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, and French diplomatic representatives.
This marks the second official encounter between Abdi and Sharaa, following a bilateral agreement signed on 10 March 2025 concerning the integration of the political, military, and civil institutions of the Kurdish-led northeast into the Syrian state.
While these meetings are still ongoing and the political climate remains too uncertain to predict outcomes definitively, it is clear that Öcalan’s direct intervention in the Turkey–PKK equation may be de-escalating Ankara’s security concerns in northern Syria.
Meanwhile, the US and France’s ongoing rhetorical support for the Kurdish-led SDF in the international fight against terrorism may suggest a gradually increasing tolerance and tendency towards recognition for the Öcalan-inspired Rojava project.
A Friday for the History Books
A major peace agreement between the British government and Irish parties was signed on a Friday and came to be known as the Good Friday Agreement.
Though no official signatures may be exchanged in this case, the gesture of goodwill by Kurdish fighters gathering in a remote area of Silemani—within the war-stricken lands of Iraqi Kurdistan—may ultimately deliver one of the most historic affirmations of peace in the region.
Scholars and historians may one day remember tomorrow’s moment as the defining signature of the latest and longest-lasting Kurdish uprising in the region.
About the Author
Agit is a Kurdish rights activist, writer and freelance journalist. He holds a BSc in International Relations from LSE and is currently pursuing an MSc at LSE in Human Rights. Agit has written on the Kurdish issue for the London Globalist, LSE Beaver, and also contributes to Kurdish news outlets in English, Kurdish and Turkish. He is on X at @AgitKaratas_