 has said the group’s members are ready to return to #Turkey and participate in politics if legal guarantees are provided and if its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan is released.){kind=link}
One of the top commanders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has said the group’s members are ready to return to Turkey and participate in democratic politics if legal guarantees are provided and if its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan is released.
Speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday following the group’s symbolic ceremony in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq, PKK Executive Council Co-Chair Besê Hozat said the decision to abandon armed conflict and pursue political activity through legal means was “comprehensive.”
“We are ready and willing to go to Turkey to engage in democratic politics,” Hozat said.
She called on Ankara to enact urgent constitutional and legal reforms to make the fighters’ return possible without the risk of imprisonment or death.
“The Turkish state needs to grant us the right to enter democratic politics,” she said, warning that without such changes, “we will either end up in prison or being killed.”
Hozat’s comments came immediately after the PKK began destroying weapons at a ceremony on Friday organized in response to a video message by Öcalan, who has been serving a life sentence on İmralı Island since 1999.
Hozat said her movement’s main condition going forward was the release of Öcalan, whom she referred to as “Leader Apo.”
“Ensuring leader Apo’s physical freedom legally, via legal guarantees, is essential,” she said.
“He should be able to freely lead and manage this process. This is our primary condition and demand.”
Earlier this week, Öcalan had issued a video message saying he did not view his own freedom as an individual matter but a broader societal issue tied to peace and democracy.
The PKK commander said that unless Öcalan is released and allowed to play a central role, “it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully.”
The group’s laying down of arms is part of a five-stage roadmap, according to a senior Turkish official speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said the next phases would include the legal reintegration of militants, the establishment of return mechanisms and broader reforms to ensure justice, stability and accountability.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, has waged an armed insurgency since 1984 that has claimed over 40,000 lives.
The ceremony in Sulaymaniyah and the broader political dialogue have marked a shift toward what both the government and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) have described as a “new phase” in Turkish political life — one that may test the durability of reforms and reconciliation in the country’s centenary year.