DIYARBAKIR (Turkey) Jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan on Thursday called for a ceasefire, telling his fighters to lay down their arms and withdraw from Turkey, raising hopes for an end to a three-decade conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
“We are at a stage where guns should be silenced,” Ocalan said in a letter written from his isolated island prison cell and read out by a pro-Kurdish lawmaker to vast crowds in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
Ocalan, the founding leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said it was time for “politics to prevail, not arms,” as he called for armed militants to withdraw from Turkey.
The move caps months of clandestine peace talks between Turkey’s spy agency and the state’s former nemesis Ocalan, whose movement is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its western allies.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ocalan, branded a “baby killer” by many Turks, both appear to have staked their political futures on the renewed push to end the 29-year armed campaign for self-rule that has killed some 45,000 people, mostly Kurds.
“A door is opened from armed struggle to democratic struggle,” said the 64-year-old Ocalan, known as “Apo” or uncle to Kurds who has been serving a life sentence for treason on Imrali island off Istanbul since 1999.
“It is not the end of the struggle, it is the beginning of a new one,” he added. “It is time for unity.”
Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler gave a cautious welcome to Ocalan’s announcement. “The language is the language of peace, we must now see it put into action,” Guler was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying.
The peace talks were launched last year after a dramatic upsurge in PKK attacks against Turkish security forces.
(Reuters) – Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish political party denied on Thursday media reports that jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan had told his fighters to leave the country without their weapons under a peace plan.
A weapons-free withdrawal by Ocalan’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), as sought by the government, would be seen as a significant step towards ending a conflict which has dragged on for three decades and killed more than 40,000 people.
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), gestures during a rally to celebrate the spring festival of Newroz in Istanbul March 17, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Murad Sezer
The Yeni Safak daily, which is close to the government, said Ocalan had given the withdrawal message on Wednesday to a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) which visited him in his island prison, south of Istanbul.
BDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtas, who was one of the delegates, said Ocalan had prepared a letter on the subject but had not delivered any message on Wednesday.
“First of all I want to state clearly that Mr. Ocalan did not pass on a clear message regarding the withdrawal during our visit yesterday, nor did he give us a letter,” Demirtas told Kurdish television channel Nuce TV in a telephone interview.
“However, he told us he had written a letter on this subject and that it would reach us in one or two days. We expect to receive this letter today or tomorrow. He said the details were in this letter,” Demirtas said.
It was not clear whether the letter would be addressed to the PKK or others, but Demirtas said a reply was expected to be sent to Imrali within a week. He said developments on the withdrawal were expected to become clear next week.
Only Ocalan and a few Turkish officials have direct knowledge of the peace process and details until now have only filtered out through media close to the government.
The PKK declared a ceasefire with Turkey last month in response to an order from Ocalan after months of talks with Ankara to halt a conflict that began in 1984.
The group has demanded legal protection to prevent military attacks on its fighters during their planned departure to northern Iraq, a condition rejected by the government.
Hundreds of PKK militants are estimated to have been killed in clashes with security forces during a previous withdrawal in 1999 after Ocalan’s capture and conviction for treason.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said he guarantees there will be no repeat of such fighting. But he opposes legislation, saying the rebels should disarm before heading for Iraq to remove the risk of firefights with Turkish forces.
NO BLOODSHED
Ocalan’s supporters have gathered to celebrate his April 4 birthday in southeast Sanliurfa province, where he was born. In a message read out there on Wednesday evening, he appealed for their support for the process, saying he had fulfilled his role.
“I am calling on everyone who says ‘I am honorable’, whether rich, poor, male, female, young or old, to conform with and develop this (peace) process,” he said in a message read out to the crowd in the district of Halfeti.
His supporters set off fireworks and chanted “Long live the leader Apo (Ocalan)” as the message was read out, the Kurdish Firat news agency reported.
“I hope that not a drop of blood will be shed as this process develops. Nobody should harm another. Everyone should participate in this process with love,” he said.
Later on Thursday, Erdogan will meet the members of a new 63-strong “wise people commission”, made up of academics, journalists and performing artists, established by the government to promote the process nationwide.
A deputy from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party presented on Wednesday a proposal to form a parliamentary commission to assess the peace process. The withdrawal will be monitored by Turkish intelligence and the Kurdistan regional government.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, launched its insurgency with the aim of carving out an independent state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, but later moderated its goal to autonomy.
Pro-Kurdish politicians are focused on expanding minority rights and stronger local government for the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey’s population of 75 million people.
(Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker and Jonathon Burch in Ankara; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Alistair Lyon)
via Kurdish party denies Ocalan asked PKK rebels to leave unarmed | Reuters.
Turkey should continue engaging with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in order to resolve its Kurdish conflict.
By Paul Napolitano
Contributor
The crisis in Syria has dominated media coverage and refocused international attention on the need for stability and security in the Middle East. Yet a more enduring case of humanitarian crisis has been forgotten in neighboring Turkey. The conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has persisted for 28 years and has claimed over 40,000 lives. This persistent conflict has been neglected as U.S. and international interests in neighboring Syria, Iran, and Iraq have dominated headlines. The grievances of the Kurdish population in the Middle East cross national borders; a forceful effort to address the problems in Turkey – by far the most stable state in the region – will have positive effects for its less stable neighbors.
Abdullah Öcalan, the isolated PKK leader serving a life sentence since 1999, is the unlikely key to ending this conflict. Labeled a terrorist by the U.S., Turkish, and EU governments, Öcalan is still an influential figure amongst Turkey’s Kurds; a two-month hunger strike by nearly 700 Kurdish prisoners stopped immediately when Öcalan advised they cease.
Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has apparently come to understand Öcalan’s key role in the fragile peace process. Engaging in negotiations with Öcalan, secretly at first to avoid opposition criticism, the Turkish government is displaying a desire for peace. Öcalan has responded by agreeing to a framework for a PKK ceasefire contingent on a more inclusive definition of Turkish citizenship and the allowance of Kurdish language education. Revealing the key regional dynamics, he agreed to pressure the PKK-affiliated Syrian Kurds to distance themselves from the Assad regime.
The Kurdish conflict has plagued the Turkish state since its inception and currently threatens Turkey’s coveted entry into the European Union. Rampant discrimination of Kurds at all levels of government and society has stained Turkey’s modern and secular reputation.
Turkey needs to undertake fundamental constitutional and political reforms to fully address its Kurdish conflict; progress towards a ceasefire with the PKK will signal a commitment to Western democratic ideals. Consequently, a stabilization of relations between the Turkish Kurds and the Turkish government would positively influence the conflict dynamics in Syria and Iraqi; the Kurdish guerilla movements in those countries closely align themselves with actions of the PKK, and could be swayed toward peace by Öcalan. Peace with the PKK would win the favor of the Western community that Turkey has been so desperate to join and stabilize some parts of the world’s most troublesome region.
The problem? The process means engaging with an insurgent leader that has come to be reviled by ethnic Turks as the face of Kurdish violence against the Turkish population. The decision to negotiate with Öcalan is clearly fraught with political and cultural difficulties. The AKP could lose meaningful political support, as nationalist Turks favoring the constitutional definition of an ethnically homogenous Turkey defect to the opposition parties. Nevertheless, engagement is a key step in a much more intensive process of reform.
Outside intervention, especially from Iranian and Syrian Kurdish communities, may attempt to derail the peace talks with bursts of violence. A breakdown in negotiations could lead to resumption of outright military conflict, as when negotiations failed in 2011, resulting in a dramatic increase in violence last year.
In any event, the Turkish government has identified the key actor to pursue peace in the most unlikely place. The resolution of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey would positively affect the region and could provide much needed stability for weary Western powers. The United States and the EU must praise these renewed efforts for peace and support the process. There will be missteps and difficulties in the coming months, but renewed displays of international support will motivate the parties, especially the Turkish government, to maintain this effort. This is a rare and fleeting opportunity that cannot be wasted.
Paul Napolitano is enrolled at the MA in International Affairs degree program at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. A native of New Orleans, LA, Paul holds a master’s degree in Comparative History from Brandeis University (2009). Before enrolling in the Elliott School, he spent two years working in the nonprofit sector as part of the effort to rebuild the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina.
This image is being used under Creative Commons licensing courtesy of Wikimedia.
via An End to the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey is in Reach, and in Prison | International Affairs Review.
The recent historic address from imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Adbullah Ocalan sent political speculators scurrying to extol Turkey’s prospects of finally obtaining a “real peace.” While the latest efforts at peace between the Turkish government and Kurdish rebels may in fact be the most serious to date, the situation remains as fragile as ever. Much more than a ceasefire has to occur before a permanent armistice can take hold in the Kurdish region of Turkey. Both parties still face an uphill battle.
Ocalan’s group of rebels, known as the PKK, has been waging war with the Turkish government for nearly 30 years. Originally, Ocalan called for the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, but of late the PKK has tempered its demands to include increased autonomy and political rights for the Kurdish people. A minority ethnic group residing primarily in the region straddling the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, the Kurds make up an estimated 15 million of Turkey’s total population of 80 million. They have long suffered discrimination and oppression at the hands of the Turkish government, the conflict with whom has left over 40,000 dead on both sides and trapped large portions of Turkey in residual poverty. Presently, the PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, including the United States.
In his latest statement from prison, Ocalan asked rebel fighters of the PKK to put an end to the ongoing violence and withdraw from Turkey completely. “Let guns be silenced and politics dominate,” said Ocalan in a statement read in Diyarbakir by a pro-Kurdish politician.[1] “The stage has been reached where our armed forces should withdraw beyond the borders … It’s not the end. It’s the start of a new era.”[2]
Despite the seemingly rosy overtones, however, this is not the first time the Kurdish rebels have declared a cease-fire. In the past, most Kurdish attempts at peace have been ignored by the government, which has vowed to fight the PKK until the bitter end. Turkish forces allegedly ambushed and massacred PKK combatants in 1999 as they retreated under orders from Ocalan, who first called for peace soon after his imprisonment. A similar incident occurred during another unilateral decision to capitulate in 2004. For many Kurds, these actions by the Turkish government speak louder than any appeals for peace from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Repeat reneging on the part of the Turks has left a bitter taste in the Kurdish mouth. Still, all hope is not lost: despite his 14-year incarceration in a prison island near Istanbul, Ocalan wields a lot of control over the PKK, and his calls for peace are not likely to fall on deaf ears. PKK commanders in Iraq have declared support for his peace initiative, and Kurdish fighters in Turkey will likely obey Ocalan’s plea and withdraw.
For his part as well, Prime Minister Erdogan has cast his political clout behind Ocalan’s efforts at peace. “If guns are put down, military operations will cease,” he said in response to Ocalan.[3] A real peace promises to benefit more than just the repressed Kurdish people. Recent efforts at a lasting peace follow a surge in bloodshed last year that cost nearly a thousand lives on both sides and may have strengthened the resolve of the Turkish government to find a permanent solution to the conflict. Concurrently, a Kurdish group linked to the PKK has gained control in Syria in the midst of a bloody civil war, further worrying the Turkish government. Additionally, it comes as no surprise that Turkey’s conflict with the PKK is hampering its economic and political ambitions in the region, as residual conflict has left large portions of the country mired in poverty.
The primary difference between this latest movement and previous efforts at peace centers on its transparency. Prior negotiations between the Turkish government and the PKK were conducted in secret, often going unnoticed by the public. This time, however, both sides aim to carry out talks in the open. In a gesture of goodwill, the PKK recently released eight Turkish hostages held captive by the guerillas since last year. The first concrete, tangible result of the peace talks has sparked renewed hope.
While speculators across the world may see a light at the end of the tunnel, many in the region share the sentiment that this is only the latest iteration in a string of many unfruitful peace initiatives. In the streets of the Kurdish region, skepticism abounds regarding the government’s commitment to peace. Thirty years of strife and entire generations who know nothing but violence have left the Kurds with minimal trust in the government. Truthfully, the road to peace is fraught with obstacles. Ocalan is relying on his PKK colleagues who he hasn’t seen in over a decade to toe his line. Erdogan, as well, faces political opposition from government hard-liners who resist any increases in Kurdish rights or autonomy. Hawks on both sides are likely to try and sabotage the peace process and resume the carnage. Despite the challenges, however, exasperated Kurds and Turks alike have little to do but cling to prospects of peace.
If the Turkish government can successfully navigate the many roadblocks that it will encounter in the coming months, they might just be able to capitalize on this opportunity for implementing a permanent solution to the Kurdish conflict. A ceasefire is a major step towards a resolution to one of Europe’s longest conflicts, but laying down arms alone will not bring about enduring peace: both sides must follow through, and the slow wheels of democracy and constitutional change must turn. Peace will not happen overnight.
Notes
[1] Pelin Turgut, New Day for the Kurds: Will Ocalan’s Declaration Bring Peace With Turkey?, Time World, March 21, 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/03/21/new-day-for-the-kurds-will-ocalans-declaration-bring-peace-with-turkey/#ixzz2OrCp3YKz
ABDULLAH OCALAN, the Kurdish rebel leader and sole inmate of a Turkish island prison since 1999, should by now “have become a perfect irrelevance, the living dead, a Kurdish Ariel Sharon. And yet he had not. His every delusional sally, every spasm of self-pity and promotion was greeted by his supporters as evidence for an ability to outsmart his jailers.” Thus wrote a puzzled Christopher de Bellaigue, a British author (and a former correspondent for this paper) in “Rebel Land”, a tale of eastern Turkey published in 2009.
Five years on, Turkey is banking on Mr Ocalan’s continued grip to end the 29-year-long rebellion waged by his outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). On March 21st, in a calibrated message read out by members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) party to over a million Kurds gathered in Diyarbakir, in south-eastern Turkey, Mr Ocalan heralded the dawn of “a new Turkey”, saying it was time for “the guns to fall silent and for ideas to speak”. Assurances followed that the Kurds no longer had designs on Turkey’s borders. Turks and Kurds ought to “unite under the banner of Islam”.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s mildly Islamist prime minister, called Mr Ocalan’s prose “positive”. Murat Karayilan, a senior PKK commander in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, swiftly declared a ceasefire. The pro-government Turkish media were awash with triumphalism. “The war is over”, assorted screeds declared.
This may be premature. Mr Ocalan did not set any deadlines for the withdrawal of some 3,000 PKK fighters from the mainly Kurdish south-east. Nor did he specifically say they should disarm. In a subsequent interview Mr Karayilan was less diplomatic. His men were as ready for peace as they were for war. The ceasefire needs to be mutually observed and the government must embark on long-promised reforms, he said. Among these is a judicial reform package that would allow thousands of Kurdish activists and politicians, locked up on flimsy “terror” charges, to walk free.
An amnesty for PKK fighters untainted by violence and improved prison conditions for Mr Ocalan are also on the list. Above all, the Kurds want a new “democratic” constitution enshrining their own cultural and political rights. In short, any withdrawal needs to be synchronised with these reforms. None of this will be easy. Seven previous ceasefires have come to naught.
Mr Erdogan is no stranger to risk. He has declawed hawkish generals and jailed hundreds of those who plotted to unseat him. His pro-secular and ultranationalist rivals are pitifully weak. His national spy chief and Mr Ocalan have stitched a deal. (Mr Erdogan’s earlier threats to revive the death penalty may have had an effect.) Its terms were largely dictated by the government. It is rumoured to include assurances that the BDP will back Mr Erdogan’s bid for the presidency next year.
Should he fail, Mr Ocalan may get the blame, which could lead to a splintering of the PKK. “This is Erdogan’s true aim: to drive a wedge between Ocalan and the mountains,” a veteran BDP officials claims. Others speculate that he wants to buy temporary calm in order to secure an easy ride to the presidency.
Mr Erdogan owes his unprecedented heft to his vision and, most of all, to a strong pragmatic streak. It prompted him to embrace Iraq’s Kurds, whose vast energy riches and seemingly limitless hunger for Turkish goods and services are expected to boost growth. In another dramatic U-turn Mr Erdogan decided to accept Israel’s apology on March 22nd for its 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which left nine Turks dead (see article).
Mr Erdogan, whose many ambitions include hosting the 2020 Olympics in Istanbul, must know that a divided and more radical PKK is likely to resort to the sort of terrorism that would make Turkey’s relatively calm cities unsafe. “Solving the PKK problem is not the same as solving the Kurdish problem,” warned Safeen Dizayee, a spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish statelet. History has shown that until their rights are granted, the Kurds will rise up again and again.
From the print edition: Europe
via Turkey and the PKK: The war may be over | The Economist.
Could Turkey be nearing a resolution of its Kurdish problem? The March 21 ceasefire announcement from Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has certainly raised hopes of a resolution. The optimism, however, masks significant obstacles, not least of which is the fact that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces structural incentives that could undermine his motivation to pursue peace as strongly and urgently as might be wished. The process could easily breakdown amid recrimination and a return to violence.
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP)-led government and the PKK have been negotiating for several months. The authorities have allowed some members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) to visit Ocalan in jail and communicate his position to the rest of the PKK’s leadership, and the broad outlines of a deal are slowly emerging. The PKK will gradually pull back its nearly 2,000 armed militants operating in Turkish territory. In the meantime, the AKP and the BDP will start negotiations on a new constitution and revisions to Turkey’s legal framework needed to ensure equal treatment for Kurds. The final stage would be the normalization of relations. Both sides will continue to maintain momentum by making small-scale concessions, though significant steps will have to wait until the PKK has fully withdrawn from Turkish territory.
For both sides, a ceasefire offers significant potential benefits and little downside, at least in the near term. The Turkish population is more inclined to consider a peace deal than at any time in the past few decades. Erdogan would reap considerable electoral benefit from resolving the long-standing violence and tension (though there would be little fallout if the deal were to break down). The BDP would gain electorally for improving, even if only marginally, Turkey’s legislative framework regarding the Kurdish minority. The PKK leadership would avoid fighting on two fronts simultaneously given developments in northern Syria-while also giving their militants time to recover from the effects of the violent 2012 campaign in south-eastern Turkey. And then there are more intangible factors: The PKK leaders are thought to be tired of life on the run, and Ocalan too is believed to be angling for house arrest rather than jail.
But despite the momentum and the benefits from a ceasefire, peace could founder on one of several issues. While the mood in the country is promising, there is a wide gap between Kurdish demands and what the government can realistically concede ahead of the upcoming elections. There is also a very real danger that some factions in the PKK and the broader Kurdish movement may feel betrayed by the final deal between the government and Ocalan. That disappointment could trigger a resumption of PKK insurgency.
The most immediate challenge, though, will be implementing the PKK’s withdrawal without violence, particularly given that a law assuring their safety appears unlikely at this point. The Turkish military as well as nationalist groups will find it very difficult to allow armed PKK militants to simply leave for safety in northern Iraq. And the PKK will not consider giving up their weapons, especially given the situation in Syria.
Finally, there are concerns about the process. Neither the government nor the Kurdish nationalists have any real experience in handling peace talks and the compressed time frame of less than one year to withdraw troops and write a new constitution significantly increases the complexity. Similar developments in other parts of the world took many years to complete and there is no guarantee that either side will be able to manage any potential moments of tension.
Naz Masraff is an analyst with Eurasia Group’s Europe practice.
