Representatives of the Kurdish guerrilla organization PKK will not move forward with peace negotiations with Ankara, one of its commanders told Agence France-Presse, assessing that "it is Turkey's turn to act" and free their historic leader Abdullah Ocalan.
"We have done what is asked of us. Now it is the turn of the Turkish state. There have been talks in Turkey, but no concrete progress... now we are waiting for the Turkish state to take action and take the next step," said Commander Amed Malazgirt, who has been demanding Ocalan's release.
Abdullah Ocalan (76) is the founder and long-time leader of the Marxist-Leninist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which waged an armed insurgency for more than four decades, from 1984 to 2015, with more than 40.000 deaths, to secede Kurdish-populated territory from Turkey, and then softened its stance by demanding greater political and cultural autonomy within Turkish borders.
After fleeing Turkey, which had issued an international arrest warrant for him, the PKK leader was taken to Russia, then to Italy, and then to Greece, with the help of Greek state security agents, to Nairobi, Kenya. There he was at the residence of the Greek ambassador, but on February 15, 1999, while being transported to the airport to travel to the Netherlands, he was arrested by Turkish agents with the help of United States (US) agents who discovered this, and was taken by plane to Turkey. His epic caused political upheaval in a number of countries involved and a crisis in the government in Greece, where there was great sympathy for the Kurds at the time because of their fight against Turkey.
Ocalan called for the dissolution of his movement in February, and has been in solitary confinement since 1999 in a prison on the island of Imrali near Istanbul.
He was originally sentenced to death for treason and secessionism, but when the death penalty was abolished in Turkey, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
Despite being imprisoned, Ocalan is a central figure and key player in any credible peace process between Turkey and the PKK. Reports from November this year confirm that negotiations are underway, with a Turkish parliamentary delegation even visiting Ocalan in prison to discuss disarmament and the dissolution of the PKK.
The regime under which Öcalan is held in prison is controversial, often subjecting him to long periods of complete isolation with no contact with the outside world. However, according to recent statements by his lawyers, conditions have reportedly improved, allowing him contact with other PKK-affiliated prisoners, access to books and television, and visits from his lawyer.
In February of this year, Ocalan issued a statement from prison calling on the PKK to lay down its arms and disband, which led to the group's unilateral ceasefire, and the PKK is now calling on Turkey to take further steps in the peace process and release Ocalan.
On October 26th, the PKK announced the withdrawal of its last fighters from Turkey to northern Iraq, completing the first phase of the peace process launched by Ankara a year earlier.
The military leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who Agence France-Presse spoke with in the mountains of Kurdistan in northern Iraq welcomed the formation of the commission in the Turkish Parliament, describing it as a positive gesture, but added that more is needed.
He said they have two demands: the first is the release of Öcalan, whom they call "Apo" (Father), without which the process will not succeed, and the second is constitutional and official recognition of the Kurdish people in Turkey.
PKK commander Serda Mazlum Gabar told Agence France-Presse that Öcalan, the founder of the PKK, remains the undisputed leader of his supporters, and has been held for years "in the torture system of Imrali prison."
"Our goal is first to recognize the right to hope and then complete freedom for the leadership" of the PKK, she said. "By freedom, we mean that he is free to act, to lead his movement and to integrate with the people," she added, saying that in the first phase he could be released under house arrest.
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