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A Kurdish separatist leader who has spent decades in prison appears to be keen to take up a surprise offer from his arch-rival.
Devlet Bahçeli — a political veteran and close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — in October invited Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), to the Turkish legislature in order to publicly announce the group’s dissolution and to lay down arms.
“If the terrorist leader’s isolation is lifted, let him come and speak … Let him declare that terrorism is over and the organization disbanded,” Bahçeli said at the time in a speech to members of parliament from his Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Bahçeli has consistently styled himself the PKK’s sworn enemy, and his offer came as a shock.
But the imprisoned leader appears willing to work with Bahçeli and Erdoğan, according to a statement on Sunday by the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, following a visit to Öcalan the day before.
“I possess the necessary competence and determination to contribute positively to the new paradigm supported by Mr. Bahçeli and Mr. Erdoğan,” the DEM Party statement quotes Öcalan as saying. “I am ready to take the necessary positive steps and make the required call,” the statement adds.
Erdoğan has signaled his awareness of Bahçeli’s move, saying in a televised speech on Wednesday: “We hope this unique window of opportunity that the ruling coalition is offering to end the terror will not be sacrificed to personal agendas.”
Öcalan added in his reported statement that “recent incidents” in Gaza and Syria show that the “resolution of this issue … can no longer be postponed.” Syrian President Bashar Assad was recently ousted from the country after years of brutal authoritarian rule.
Highlighting the volatility that surrounds Turkey and the Kurds, five people were killed in an attack at the Turkish Aerospace Industries headquarters in Ankara just a day after Bahçeli’s remarks in October.
The Turkish interior minister said then that it was “highly likely” the perpetrators were members of the PKK, which is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.
