PKK’s Öcalan to Issue "historic call" from prison

PKK’s Öcalan to Issue "historic call" from prison
2025-02-04T14:40:18+00:00

Shafaq News/ The imprisoned founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, who is held on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara, is planning to issue a historic call in the coming days.

Tuncer Bakırhan, the co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), said before his party group in the Turkish Parliament, "We care about this call, support it, and stand behind it."

He added, "It is up to Erdoğan, who holds the executive power, to take a major step. The ball is now in Erdoğan's court."

In response to questions after a meeting of his party group, Bakırhan indicated that the "historic call" could be made on February 15th, or it might come later.

The Kurdish official did not specify the nature of the "call" Öcalan plans to make in the coming days.

According to Turkish media, it is likely that Öcalan's call will be a message directed at the members of the PKK, the party he founded decades ago.

Last Thursday, a Turkish television channel editor, who is close to the opposition, was placed in pre-trial detention, while four journalists from the same channel were released but remained under judicial supervision.

Several months ago, Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in Turkiye, launched a specific initiative aimed at Öcalan. Bahçeli, a key ally of Turkish President Erdoğan, has had significant political and military influence for decades, and his statements often carry both domestic and international implications.

Bahçeli’s "extraordinary" initiative, presented during a parliamentary session in 2024, involves a two-part equation: "If the isolation on Öcalan is lifted, he should come and speak at the Democratic Party (pro-Kurdish) meeting in Parliament and declare that terrorism has ended completely and that his organization has been dissolved."

Following this initiative, Turkish authorities allowed Öcalan's family and members of the HDP to visit him on the island where he has been imprisoned since 1999.

The PKK has been in conflict with Turkiye since 1984, and Ankara designates the party, whose members and leaders are based in the Qandil Mountains and areas in northern Iraq and northern Syria, as a "terrorist organization."

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