Öcalan’s U-Turn from Resisting to Embracing Turkey

The PKK Founder’s Latest Call Stands in Contrast to Decades of Armed Struggle Against a State That Has Denied Kurdish Rights

11.07.2025

By Loqman Radpey*

Source:https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/ocalans-u-turn-from-resisting-to-embracing-turkey

On July 9, 2025, imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Öcalan presented several “practical steps” toward achieving “Peace and Democratic Society” in Turkey. It was his first major declaration since his February 2025 call for the PKK to lay down arms and disband. His theses depart from the ideological foundations on which the PKK was built.

Öcalan now insists that the PKK must abandon its “nation-statist aim” and “military strategy”—moves that, in his view, should result in the organization’s dissolution. This stands in contrast to decades of armed struggle against a state that, from the outset, has denied Kurdish identity and rights, let alone accepted a call to create an independent Kurdish state. Since his imprisonment in 1999, Öcalan has moved away from Marxist-Leninist insurgency toward democratic confederalism, but his most recent call takes that trajectory to an extreme—suggesting the absorption of the Kurdish movement into the state structure it once resisted.

His proposal of “a positive integrationist perspective,” where Kurds would participate in Turkey’s nation-state apparatus, is paradoxical. The PKK was born out of the denial of Kurdish existence within Turkey. The idea that the Kurdistan question can be resolved by joining the framework that necessitated armed resistance to begin with appears historically naive at best, and politically irresponsible at worst.

According to Öcalan, the PKK’s basic aim—the recognition of the existence of the Kurds—“has been achieved.” This is an unsubstantiated claim. While there may be public acknowledgment of Kurdish identity, the Turkish state has yet to take legal or constitutional steps toward political and cultural recognition. Kurdish people, including mayors and parliamentarians, remain in prison. Yet, Öcalan claims he “see[s] the sincerity” and has “trust” in steps the Turkish state might take in the future.

Worse, Öcalan discredits caution within the PKK and calls on the group to “voluntarily” disarm “before the witnesses of the public and related circles” without guarantees, preconditions, or reciprocal gestures. He calls this “not a loss, but a historical gain”—but for whom is unclear: for Kurdish guerrillas who sacrificed their lives since 1982 in the name of Kurdistan and Kurdish identity?

While Öcalan refrains from placing obligations on Turkey, he mandates the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) do “its share and work with other parties to ensure the success of the process.” This not only deflects accountability from the state but risks placing further burden on a pro-Kurdish political party already operating under immense pressure, legal scrutiny, and the constant threat of closure.

Given the recent developments in the Middle East, Öcalan stresses “the importance and urgency of this historical step” and frames the current moment as “a new theoretical program” leading to “a new strategic and tactical phase at the national, regional and global level.” His optimism appears detached from the ground reality, where repression continues and reforms remain cosmetic. The war between PKK guerrillas and the Turkish army in the Kurdistan Regional Government area of Iraq continues, despite the PKK’s unilateral ceasefire on March 1 and its declared decision to disarm on May 12, 2025.

Öcalan’s new call raises questions. Without state concessions, legal guarantees, or international mediation, he risks disarming the Kurdish movement in exchange for promises that may never materialize. His call risks squandering a rare historical moment—one in which regional shifts, following Israel’s decapitation of Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran’s exposed weakness in the eyes of the world—that could offer the Kurds a once-in-a-century opportunity to establish second and third Kurdish entities in Syria and Iran. If missed, this moment may slip away, leaving the Kurds with nothing of lasting significance in the new Middle East.

*Loqman Radpey is a Middle East Forum fellow, and the author of Towards an Independent Kurdistan: Self-Determination in International Law.