The historic call by Abdullah Öcalan: all groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself

A delegation met with Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı prison. At the end, Öcalan’s declaration calling for the end of the armed struggle and the dissolution of the PKK was made public

A 7-member delegation held a meeting with the Kurdish People’s Leader, Abdullah Öcalan, in İmralı F Type High Security Closed Prison earlier today. The delegation consisted of Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Pervin Buldan, DEM Party co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, Ahmet Türk, DEM Party Istanbul MP Cengiz Çiçek and lawyer Faik Özgür Erol from Asrin Law Office. Öcalan’s fellow prisoners in İmralı, Ömer Hayri Konar, Hamili Yıldırım and Veysi Aktaş, also attended the meeting on Thursday.

The İmralı Delegation held a press conference at the Elit World Hotel in Istanbul to convey a historic call from Öcalan.

The delegation thanked Abdullah Öcalan and all parties that contributed to the process.

The ‘Call for Peace and Democratic Society’, read by Ahmet Türk in Kurdish and by Pervin Buldan in Turkish, includes the following:

“The PKK was born in the 20th century, in the most violent epoch of the history of humanity, amidst the two world wars, under the shadow of the experience of real socialism and the cold-war around the world. The outright denial of Kurdish reality, restrictions on basic rights and freedoms – especially freedom of expression – played a significant role in its emergence and development.

The PKK has been under the heavy realities of the century and the system of real socialism in terms of its adopted theory, program, strategy and tactics. In the 1990s, with the collapse of real socialism due to internal dynamics, the dissolution of the denial of Kurdish identity in the country, and improvements in freedom of expression, led to the weakening of the PKK´s foundational meaningfulness and resulted in excessive repetition. Therefore, it has run its course like its counterparts and has necessitated its dissolution.

Throughout the history of more than 1000 years, Turkish and Kurdish relations have been defined in terms of mutual cooperation and alliance, and Turks and Kurds have found it essential to remain in this voluntary alliance to maintain their existence and survive against hegemonic powers.

The last 200 years of capitalist modernity have been marked by primarily with the aim to break this alliance. The forces involved, in line with their class-based interests, have played a key role in furthering this objective. With the monist interpretations of the Republic, this process has accelerated.  Today, the main task is to restructure the historical relationship, which has become extremely fragile, without excluding consideration for beliefs in the spirit of fraternity.

The need for a democratic society is inevitable. The PKK, the longest and most extensive insurgency and armed movement in the history of the Republic, found social base and support, and was primarily inspired by the fact that the channels of democratic politics were closed.

The inevitable outcome of the extreme nationalist deviations – such as a separate nation-state, federation, administrative autonomy, or culturalist solutions – fails to answer the historical sociology of the society.

Respect for identities, free self-expression, democratic self-organization of each segment of society based on their own socio-economic and political structures, are only possible through the existence of a democratic society and political space.

The second century of the Republic can achieve and assure permanent and fraternal continuity only if it is crowned with democracy. There is no alternative to democracy in the pursuit and realization of a political system. Democratic consensus is the fundamental way.

The language of the epoch of peace and democratic society needs to be developed in accordance with this reality.

The call made by Mr. Devlet Bahceli, along with the will expressed by Mr. President, and the positive responses from the other political parties towards the known call, has created an environment in which I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call.

As in the case with any modern community and party whose existence has not been abolished by force, convene your congress to integrate with the state and society voluntarily and make a decision; all groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself.

I convey my greetings to all those who believe in co-existence and who look forward to my call.

February 25, 2025

Abdullah Öcalan

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Öcalan’s additional note conveyed via the İmralı Delegation:

“Undoubtedly, the laying down of arms and the dissolution of the PKK in practice require the recognition of democratic politics and a legal framework.”

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