Abdullah Ocalan, jailed founder of the Kurdish militant PKK group, is an icon for many Kurds but a reviled terrorist for many Turks who is now at the heart of the biggest push for peace in over a decade.
Key Factors
Attitudes began shifting in October 2024 when Devlet Bahceli, a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, offered Ocalan an olive branch if he would renounce violence. In 2005, he ordered followers to renounce the idea of an independent Kurdish state and campaign for autonomy in their respective countries.
The militant leader, who oversaw decades of violence against the Turkish state, last year threw his weight behind a bid to end decades of armed conflict, with fighters from his Kurdistan Workers’ Party accepting his call to disarm. Since then, Ocalan has been regularly visited by a small delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM party that has been deeply involved in shuttle diplomacy between him and Ankara.
