Turkey may consider extending ‘right to hope’ to Ocalan: AKP lawmaker
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A lawmaker from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said on Saturday that Ankara’s parliamentary commission overseeing the peace process could discuss extending the “right to hope” legal principle to jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.
“If necessary, we will discuss Ocalan's right to hope,” AKP lawmaker Galip Ensarioglu told Rudaw.
Ocalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999, has in recent months been granted unprecedented access to mediators, family members, and lawyers after reviving peace talks with the Turkish state more than a year ago.
Earlier this year, Turkey established a 51-member parliamentary commission tasked with providing a legal basis for negotiations between Ankara and the PKK, aimed at ending a conflict that has lasted for four decades. In late November, the commission held its first meeting with Ocalan and said that “positive outcomes” had been achieved.
Ensarioglu said the commission has completed consultations and is now reviewing submissions from various parties.
“The commission has listened to all parties and some parties have submitted their reports. Now the commission is busy reading the reports of all parties,” he said, adding that the panel’s final report is expected to be completed soon and presented to parliament early next year.
Mediators in the process, including Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), have repeatedly called for applying the “right to hope” principle to Ocalan.
Under this legal concept, a life sentence must include the possibility of eventual release, meaning it cannot be absolute. The 75-year-old PKK leader has been held on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara since his capture in 1999.
In October 2024, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suggested that Ocalan could be eligible for the “right to hope,” calling on him to declare the dissolution of the PKK. This kickstarted the peace efforts between Ankara and the PKK.
The renewed peace process gained momentum in February when Ocalan issued a historic call for his followers to lay down their arms and dissolve the organization he founded in 1978. The PKK complied by May, formally ending its armed structure. Since then, the group - temporarily rebranded as the Kurdistan Freedom Movement - has taken further steps to support the process, including the withdrawal of its fighters from Mount Zap, a strategic area that Turkish forces had long sought to control.
The PKK was founded in 1978 with the initial aim of establishing an independent Kurdish state, later shifting its demands toward political and cultural rights. Turkey and several Western governments designate the group as a terrorist organization.
“If necessary, we will discuss Ocalan's right to hope,” AKP lawmaker Galip Ensarioglu told Rudaw.
Ocalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999, has in recent months been granted unprecedented access to mediators, family members, and lawyers after reviving peace talks with the Turkish state more than a year ago.
Earlier this year, Turkey established a 51-member parliamentary commission tasked with providing a legal basis for negotiations between Ankara and the PKK, aimed at ending a conflict that has lasted for four decades. In late November, the commission held its first meeting with Ocalan and said that “positive outcomes” had been achieved.
Ensarioglu said the commission has completed consultations and is now reviewing submissions from various parties.
“The commission has listened to all parties and some parties have submitted their reports. Now the commission is busy reading the reports of all parties,” he said, adding that the panel’s final report is expected to be completed soon and presented to parliament early next year.
Mediators in the process, including Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), have repeatedly called for applying the “right to hope” principle to Ocalan.
Under this legal concept, a life sentence must include the possibility of eventual release, meaning it cannot be absolute. The 75-year-old PKK leader has been held on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara since his capture in 1999.
In October 2024, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suggested that Ocalan could be eligible for the “right to hope,” calling on him to declare the dissolution of the PKK. This kickstarted the peace efforts between Ankara and the PKK.
The renewed peace process gained momentum in February when Ocalan issued a historic call for his followers to lay down their arms and dissolve the organization he founded in 1978. The PKK complied by May, formally ending its armed structure. Since then, the group - temporarily rebranded as the Kurdistan Freedom Movement - has taken further steps to support the process, including the withdrawal of its fighters from Mount Zap, a strategic area that Turkish forces had long sought to control.
The PKK was founded in 1978 with the initial aim of establishing an independent Kurdish state, later shifting its demands toward political and cultural rights. Turkey and several Western governments designate the group as a terrorist organization.