A group of 69 Nobel Laureates have written an open letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressing deep concern about the deteriorating conditions of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s imprisonment and calling for the resumption of peace talks. The letter stressed the need for courageous leadership and urges the Turkish government to end Öcalan’s isolation on İmralı Island.
This is not the first time that Nobel Laureates have written to President Erdoğan on this issue. In January 2021, 50 Nobel Laureates wrote a similar letter highlighting their concerns about the treatment of prisoners in Turkey, including Abdullah Öcalan. The repeated appeals reflect their deepening concern about Öcalan’s condition and the wider implications for peace in the region.
In their latest letter, the Laureates stressed the importance of pursuing a path of peace in the midst of global turmoil and conflict. They pointed to previous efforts such as the Oslo talks (2009-2011) and the İmralı process (2013-2015), which demonstrated the potential for reconciliation under Erdoğan’s leadership. Although these efforts have not yielded the desired results, the Nobel Laureates believe that peace and reconciliation are still possible.
“In a world increasingly plagued with violence, death, destruction and war, including the terrifying Russian threats to use nuclear weapons as a result of their invasion of Ukraine, all life on this planet is facing an extremely unclear future,” the Laureates wrote. They argued that a revival of peace efforts would send a message of hope to people around the world, demonstrating that different futures are possible.
The Laureates also pointed to the lack of communication with Öcalan since a brief phone call with his brother on 21 March 2021, and stressed the urgent need for renewed dialogue. They called on Erdoğan “to rekindle the efforts you began with the Oslo talks and the Imrali process and send your representatives to begin new talks with Mr Öcalan and that you end his isolation on Imrali Island”.
The letter underlined the global need for “new, enlightened leadership and an end to violence and war” and urged President Erdoğan to take a bold step towards peace.
The call for action is supported by a large group of Nobel Laureates from fields as diverse as peace, chemistry, medicine, literature, physics and economics, underlining the broad and unified support for this initiative.
In addition to this appeal, the Laureates have also sent a letter to European and international human rights bodies expressing similar concerns about the conditions of Mr Öcalan’s detention and criticising the lack of meaningful action by these bodies. This underlines the continuing international concern for Mr Öcalan’s rights and the urgent need for his release and the resumption of peace negotiations.
