Next step in PKK peace talks must come from Ankara: Senior Kurdish official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The next step in peace talks between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) must come from Ankara, a Kurdish politician affiliated with the PKK told Rudaw last week.

PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan fulfilled his role when he called on his party to disarm and disband and now “the ball is in the state’s court,” Zubeyir Aydar, a senior member of the Kurdistan Community Union (KCK), an umbrella group of Kurdish parties spearheaded by the PKK, told Rudaw in Germany on Wednesday.

He outlined what the PKK wants to see from Ankara. 

“One, the language of threats and attacks and provocations must be changed to the language of peace,” said the veteran politician who has been living in Germany for decades.

“The other is that they also stop their operations, that is, against all Kurds, in the North [southeast Turkey], in the West [northeast Syria or Rojava], in the South [Kurdistan Region], all must be stopped,” he added. 

Aydar also said that the Turkish government should stop replacing elected Kurdish mayors with state-linked administrators and form a parliamentary committee to find a legal basis for the resolution of the Kurdish issue. 

At the end of February, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) shared with the public a letter from Ocalan, the leader of the PKK who is imprisoned on Imrali island. In the letter, he urged the group to disarm and disband. His message has sparked hope for an end to four decades of a conflict that has taken 40,000 lives. 

The PKK subsequently announced a unilateral ceasefire and said they would hold a congress to discuss their future, but have insisted that Ocalan should be released from jail to lead the process.

Ankara has demanded the PKK immediately surrender and dissolve itself. 

This peace process appeared to begin last October, when Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, who is known for his nationalist remarks and is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main ally, extended his hand to Kurdish lawmakers in the parliament. However, Aydar said this is actually the continuation of the failed 2013 ceasefire that lasted just two and half years.

“When recently they went to see Leader Apo, he told the delegation that the table hasn't been dispersed, it's a continuation of it,” said Aydar. Ocalan is also known as Apo, meaning uncle in Kurdish.

Ozgur Ozel, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said on Friday that Ankara and the PKK have been holding talks for the past one and half years.

Most opposition parties have said the Kurdish issue should be resolved via the parliament.

Aydar said that Turkey has indicated they would be open to giving Kurds the political freedom they want. “We hope they will implement it practically,” he said. 

He added that Ocalan also sent a handwritten letter to PKK leaders in Europe. The letter was not identical to the one that was released publicly, calling on the PKK to disarm and disband.

“It was a two-page message. It was handwritten. We recognize his handwriting and it was his handwriting. The PKK issue was in it, that is, the PKK should have changed earlier, should have transformed itself earlier because when the Cold War ended, we should have also, accordingly, made inquiries, but we were late. In this regard, there are some things like this in it,” he said.

The DEM Party delegation that met with Ocalan several times and carried his messages to politicians in the Kurdistan Region is expected to also visit northeast Syria (Rojava).