he said<\/a>. \u201cGuided by the values \u200b\u200bfor which our martyrs made their sacrifices, God willing, we are saving Turkey from a half-century-long calamity and completely removing this bloody shackle that has been placed upon our country.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\nThe jailed \u00d6calan, speaking in his first video since 1999, said on Wednesday that the PKK movement and its previous quest for a separate Kurdish nation-state were now at an end, as its core demand \u2014 the recognition of Kurdish existence \u2014 has been met.<\/p>\n
\u201cExistence has been recognized and therefore the primary objective has been achieved. In this sense, it is outdated \u2026\u00a0This is a voluntary transition from the phase of armed struggle to the phase of democratic politics and law. This is not a loss, but should be seen as a historic achievement,\u201d he said\u00a0in\u00a0his video.<\/p>\n
Island prison<\/p>\n
No issue in Turkish politics is more bitter than the Kurdish conflict. Some Kurds describe themselves as the most numerous stateless people in the world \u2014 there are millions in neighboring Iraq, Iran and Syria, and in Turkey they account for approximately 15 to 20 percent of the population.<\/p>\n
Many Kurds say they have been denied their rights since the formation of the Turkish republic just over a century ago and have long been oppressed.<\/p>\n
In turn, many Turks see the PKK, which long waged war against the Turkish state, as a terrorist group \u2014\u00a0and its leader \u00d6calan, who has been confined to a prison island all this century, as a murderer.<\/p>\n
Given the explosive range of feelings about \u00d6calan, it is remarkable that such a personality will prove so central to securing Erdo\u011fan\u2019s deal. \u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2223674239-1024x683.jpg\")
\u00d6calan, center, calls on the PKK to disarm, in a video recorded in prison and published Wednesday. | Tunahan Turhan\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Known as \u201cApo,\u201d he is serving a life sentence for treason and separatism on the island of
\u0130mral\u0131 in the Sea of Marmara. Notorious in part due to the movie\u00a0\u201cMidnight Express,\u201d
\u0130mral\u0131 is referred to as \u201cTurkey\u2019s Alcatraz\u201d and has held \u00d6calan, for several years as its sole inmate, since 1999.<\/p>\n
He is no longer alone. During the peace process between 2013 and 2015, a number of PKK prisoners were transferred to \u0130mral\u0131 to serve as part of \u00d6calan\u2019s unofficial secretariat.<\/p>\n
While the Kurdish policy of Erdo\u011fan and his AK Party has oscillated between crackdowns and conciliation during their 22 years in power, Turkey\u2019s hard-line nationalists have long denounced the PKK as a threat and had little time for Kurdish rights.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most outspoken enemy of \u00d6calan has been a veteran politician called Devlet Bah\u00e7eli, an ultranationalist leader, who is now Erdo\u011fan\u2019s main ally, helping him pad out his parliamentary majority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2007, Bah\u00e7eli had even called for \u00d6calan to be executed. Ten years ago he lashed out at Erdo\u011fan over one of his sporadic attempts to negotiate with the PKK.<\/p>\n
But last October, in one of the sudden shake-ups that intermittently convulse politics in Turkey, Bah\u00e7eli suggested \u00d6calan could address parliament \u2014 as long as he dissolved the PKK.<\/p>\n
The significance of the volte-face can hardly be overstated \u2014 it was almost as if Benjamin Netanyahu had extended an invitation to Hamas \u2014 and behind it all was Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n
The effect was dramatic. On Feb. 27, \u00d6calan sent a public message from his prison, calling for the PKK to give up its arms and terminate itself.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ONLINE02_TS_Politico-EU_Interior_9725-copy.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u00d6calan credited both Bah\u00e7eli\u2019s call, and Erdo\u011fan\u2019s willpower, for helping \u201ccreate an environment\u201d for the group to disarm.\u00a0\u201cI take on the historical responsibility of this call,\u201d he added. \u201cConvene your congress and make a decision: All groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,\u201d\u00a0he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The PKK Congress duly declared the end of the armed struggle on May 12, adding the group had\u00a0\u201cfulfilled its historical mission\u201d and that, as \u00d6calan had instructed, \u201call activities conducted under the PKK name have therefore been concluded.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement was welcomed in Ankara, but so far, the gambit by Bah\u00e7eli and Erdo\u011fan has yet to fully pay off. There is clearly more work to do. And sure enough, after the watershed statement from \u00d6calan in February, the prisoner gained more staff on \u0130mral\u0131. According to politicians from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party who spoke to\u00a0POLITICO, three more prisoners were sent to expand the team available for striking a grand bargain.<\/p>\n
Little trust<\/p>\n
Nurcan Baysal, a Kurdish human rights campaigner and author of the book \u201cWe Exist: Being Kurdish In Turkey,\u201d said many Kurds remained wary of the government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government is presenting this as a \u2018terror-free Turkey\u2019 process and is trying to limit it to just the PKK laying down its weapons and dissolving itself. This is not peace!\u201d she told POLITICO.<\/p>\n
Baysal said \u00d6calan\u2019s declaration in February to dissolve the PKK was also met with disappointment among Kurds because he didn\u2019t say anything about the Kurds\u2019 cultural, linguistic, administrative rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/204181-1024x749.jpg\")
\u00d6calan, flanked by masked officers on a flight from Kenya to Turkey, in 1999. | Hurriyet Ho via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is felt in all Kurdish cities. There is not the slightest enthusiasm about the process. A serious reason for this is that the Kurds do not trust [Erdo\u011fan\u2019s] AK Party government,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n
This mutual mistrust is partially the legacy of the failed initiatives of the past, and the fact that Erdo\u011fan\u2019s deal comes amid a major clampdown on the opposition. <\/p>\n
\u0130pek \u00d6zbey, a political commentator for the secularist channel S\u00f6zc\u00fc TV, reckoned the Turkish government\u2019s apparent moves toward a Kurdish rapprochement were neither sincere nor promising.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot talk about democracy in an environment where elected officials are in prison \u2026 and the independence of the judiciary is so much under discussion,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cIf there is no democracy, how will we democratize?\u201d<\/p>\n
During the reporting of this article, several government-allied figures also made clear their unease with Erdo\u011fan\u2019s Kurdish initiative, describing the issue as explosive or signaling their own lack of belief in the process, but declined to talk on the record.<\/p>\n
Only Erdo\u011fan<\/p>\n
From the government camp, Harun Arma\u011fan, the AK Party\u2019s vice chair of foreign affairs, conceded that Turkish public opinion remained cautious about the PKK deal, but cast Erdo\u011fan as the only man who could pull it off.<\/p>\n
He told POLITICO that the PKK reached the stage of laying down arms 10 years ago but \u201cdue to changing dynamics in Syria [where allied Kurdish fighters were on the rise], they thought investing in war rather than peace would put them in a more advantageous position.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen years later, they have realized how gravely mistaken that was,\u201d Arma\u011fan continued. \u201cWhether the PKK will truly disarm and dismantle itself is something we will all see together \u2026 Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan is the only leader in T\u00fcrkiye who could initiate such a process.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2221430016-1024x683.jpg\")
Erdo\u011fan has already served three terms as president. To remain in office he may need to change the constitution. | Beata Zawrzel\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only promise made by the government is to completely rid T\u00fcrkiye of terrorism and to build a future in which all 85 million citizens can live in peace, prosperity, and freedom to the fullest,\u201d\u00a0he added.<\/p>\n
Erdo\u011fan is indeed widely seen as the engineer of the Kurdish rapprochement when his regional diplomacy is also enjoying success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He has been hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump as the main winner from the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria, where the new government has strong ties to Ankara. Erdo\u011fan is trying to take advantage of his clout by severing ties between Syrian Kurdish groups and the PKK.<\/p>\n
Baysal, the Kurdish human rights campaigner, reckoned the change of events in Syria is the main reason why the Turkish government initiated its Kurdish outreach.<\/p>\n
But Arma\u011fan, the AK Party official, insisted the two processes were distinct. \u201cThis [Syrian] process is entirely different from our own process of eliminating terrorism,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Syrian government has already called on all armed groups to join a central army, and the SDF [a prominent Syrian Kurdish group]\u00a0has signed an agreement to this effect. These are promising developments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
President for life<\/p>\n
Some observers think Erdo\u011fan, a formidable political operator, is using the Kurdish process inside and outside the country to extend his stay in power, trying to recruit Kurdish parliamentarians into his camp.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s certainly the view of DEM Party Group Deputy Chair Sezai Temelli.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s cautious about whether it will work, given broader democratic backsliding. He argued the arrest of Istanbul Mayor \u0130mamo\u011flu, Erdo\u011fan\u2019s rival, was hurting this fragile process and that the \u201cKurdish democratic solution and the Turkish democratization process have a symbiotic relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added he would not be surprised to see Erdo\u011fan seeking to capitalize on the process to stay in power, but noted that the CHP, Turkey\u2019s main opposition party, had also pledged to resolve the Kurdish issue if it wins the next election.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2205564802-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/transparent-spacer-caption-blank-1600-pw-wide-1024x1.png\")
No issue in Turkish politics is more bitter than the Kurdish conflict. Some Kurds describe themselves as the most numerous stateless people in the world. | Tunahan Turhan\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Who is not using it? Some use it [the Kurdish issue] to come to power, some use it to stay in power,\u201d Temelli said.\u00a0\u201cBut we say this could only be solved independently of election and power calculations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erdo\u011fan has already served three terms as president. To remain in office he may need to change the constitution.<\/p>\n
Despite the support of Bah\u00e7eli, the president\u2019s coalition does not have a sufficient majority for constitutional change so Erdo\u011fan may be counting on the support of Kurdish members of parliament.<\/p>\n
He has already started speaking openly about a new constitution to replace Turkey\u2019s 1980 charter, which was drawn up by a military regime after a bloody coup.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cT\u00fcrkiye for the first time in its history, has a real opportunity to draft its first civilian constitution. This is a significant opportunity for all of us to build a more prosperous, just, and secure country,\u201d Arma\u011fan said.<\/p>\n
Not everybody agrees. Some look back at past constitutional changes under Erdo\u011fan and say the main purpose of further revision to the charter would be, as in the past, to further the president\u2019s political ambitions.<\/p>\n
Soner \u00c7a\u011faptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Erdo\u011fan was acting like a \u201cparallel computer,\u201d executing opposing political strategies \u2014 cracking down on the main opposition, while reaching out to the Kurds whose support he needs to stay in office \u2014 without the two competing policies tripping over each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will do anything to get one more term as president and then basically install himself as president for life,\u201d \u00c7a\u011faptay told POLITICO.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1254994671-1024x683.jpg\")
Erdo\u011fan\u2019s Kurdish gambit is a high-risk move with no guarantee of success. | Adem Altan\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
But Baysal observed not everything relied on Erdo\u011fan\u2019s ambitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cErdo\u011fan is a politician who has the potential to use every issue for his own benefit, and he will not hesitate to instrumentalize the Kurdish issue. He will definitely want to use this to extend his presidency,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it is not just the president who will decide, she said. Ultimately, whether Turkey\u2019s tragic Kurdish conflict is consigned to history \u2014 and whether Erdo\u011fan reaps the benefit \u2014 will depend in large part on the Kurds themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the real issue here is not whether he wants it,\u201d said Baysal, referring to Erdo\u011fan,\u00a0\u201cbut whether the Kurds want it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkey\u2019s President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan is making the biggest gamble of his career to save his political skin,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":53945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[40024,372,1022,2563,17749,113,7837,7838,69,32304,90,746,472,118,83,4785,556,1039,40025,5705,3097,1802,40026,50,1269,2853,153,32307,125,4995,40027,5677,23312,5343,24922,40028,67,131,40029,9826,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-53944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-balkans","9":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-career","12":"tag-cities","13":"tag-conflict","14":"tag-democracy","15":"tag-diplomacy","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-ekrem-imamoglu","18":"tag-elections","19":"tag-environment","20":"tag-history","21":"tag-human-rights","22":"tag-iran","23":"tag-iraq","24":"tag-islam","25":"tag-judiciary","26":"tag-kurdistan","27":"tag-mayors","28":"tag-middle-east","29":"tag-military","30":"tag-missions","31":"tag-news","32":"tag-opinion","33":"tag-parliament","34":"tag-policy","35":"tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan","36":"tag-rights","37":"tag-security","38":"tag-separatism","39":"tag-services","40":"tag-syria","41":"tag-terrorism","42":"tag-turkey","43":"tag-turkish-politics","44":"tag-united-states","45":"tag-war","46":"tag-war-in-syria","47":"tag-weapons","48":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2223617464-1024x747.jpg\")
Erdo\u011fan is widely seen as the engineer of the Kurdish rapprochement when his regional diplomacy is also enjoying success.\u00a0. | Mustafa Kamaci\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n