Turkey
Jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan appears in a video dated June 19, delivering a public message released on July 9, 2025. Photo: Screengrab/ANF
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), should be allowed to address the Turkish parliament during the meetings of the recently formed commission tasked with resolving Ankara-PKK armed conflict through the legislature, a senior PKK commander said earlier this week.
Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, who initiated the latest peace talks between the Turkish government and the PKK, in October last year proposed allowing Ocalan to address the parliament and declared the dissolution of the PKK.
Duran Kalkan, a senior PKK commander, told PKK media on Wednesday that Bahceli’s words should be turned into action.
Ocalan and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) delegation, which is mediating the peace talks and has visited the PKK leader several times, “should also be brought to parliament. They should be listened to sufficiently in parliament, given enough time. Only if this happens will the commission work properly and adequately.”
He warned that no result will emerge from the commission’s work unless Ocalan is involved and the alleged isolation on him is lifted.
Aysegul Dogan, DEM Party spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday that everyone should be listed to in order to end the decades-long conflict.
“Do we need to get Mr. Ocalan's suggestions? Let's get them. After all, Mr. Ocalan, through his calls and the determined stance he has shown toward peace until today, has enabled this process to gain momentum. His call on February 27 and his video message on July 9 produced the result on July 11,” she said, referring to Ocalan’s call which led to PKK’s decision to disband and disarm.
The parliamentary commission was created as part of peace negotiations to end four decades of conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK. Its members include representatives from most of the political parties in the parliament.
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