David L. Phillips
Twenty million Kurds in Turkey have suffered a century of abuse and betrayal. Ongoing conflict impacts Turkish democracy and undermines Turkey’s standing in NATO. Fixing the problem requires a solution to the Kurdish question involving Abdullah Öcalan, the Kurdish leader imprisoned for 25 years, who is still revered by Kurds for standing up to the Turkish state. The international campaign seeking Öcalan’s release deserves international support.
The 1920 Treaty of Sèvres promised the Kurds a referendum on independence, but the referendum was never held. Instead, the Turkish state launched a systematic campaign denying their right to self-determination as well as their political and cultural rights.
In response, Kurds launched the Sivek and Hilvan rebellions against Turkish security structures. Öcalan founded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an organisation which targeted instruments of oppression and policies of “Turkification”. They resisted the Resettlement Law, which authorised the Turkish state to collect taxes, seize land, and relocate Kurds deemed a security risk. The existence of Kurdish identity in Turkey was denied. Kurdish language and geographical place names were banned. Kurds were officially called “Mountain Turks”. These policies resulted in constant conflict. Tens of thousands of Kurds were killed and displaced.
The PKK was a product of the revolutionary left. Its ideology was a mix of radical Marxist-Leninism and Kurdish nationalism. It declared a “worker-peasant alliance” as the vanguard of its global socialist movement. Syria’s foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, called the PKK a credible “resistance movement”.
The PKK relocated from southeastern Turkey to the Bekaa Valley in Syria. The 1998 Adana Agreement was a deal between Turkey and Syria intended to pressure the PKK into surrender. Turkey threatened to disrupt the supply of water to Syria from the Euphrates River, which was vital for agriculture and electricity. When Turkey massed troops on the Syrian border and threatened to invade, Hafez al-Assad succumbed and designated the PKK a terrorist organisation, banned its activities, and took steps to interdict the flow of weapons, money, and political support.
Öcalan was apprehended in February 1999. But imprisoning Öcalan did not solve Turkey’s Kurdish question rooted in inequality and social injustice. Öcalan pleaded for peace, but his entreaties fell on deaf ears. Öcalan was imprisoned and given a death sentence in 2002. The sentence was commuted to satisfy Turkey’s aspirations to join the European Union. To this day, he is still imprisoned on Imrali Island in his maximum-security prison.
Despite his circumstances, Öcalan developed a settlement of the PKK problem. Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s former spy chief and currently its foreign minister, served as Öcalan’s interlocutor to explore an equitable solution that would ensure the rights of Kurds within Turkey’s borders. Talks ended abruptly in 2015 with a deadly suicide bombing against pro-Kurdish demonstrators, attributed to Islamic State.
Öcalan reinvented himself as a proponent of peace. He promulgated a doctrine of grassroots democracy, environmentalism, and women’s empowerment, which define the PKK to this day. Even after his imprisonment, Abdullah Öcalan is still regarded as the undisputed leader of the Kurdish community.
Supporters of the Kurds launched an international campaign advocating Öcalan’s release from prison in 2024. They are calling for a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish question. Until the realisation of this goal, social harmony between Kurds and Turks is a distant dream. Turkey’s democracy will suffer, and its economy will continue to decline. Opposition to Erdoğan will intensify.
Twenty-five years after his arrest, Öcalan maintains huge influence with Kurds in both Turkey and Syria. By focusing on a security solution, Erdoğan has discredited Turkey and spoiled its prospects of joining the EU. In 2021, the European Parliament suspended Turkey’s membership application on human rights grounds. Democratic backsliding has affected all Turks, including Kurds, Christians, Yazidis, Armenians, and Greeks.
Öcalan has since evolved. He no longer supports the creation of a “Greater Kurdistan” on all traditional Kurdish lands in Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Instead, he has endorsed Turkey’s membership in the EU based on the country’s continued democratisation. This represents a big step for Öcalan with potential benefit to all Turkish citizens.
Is Erdoğan willing to engage in a dialogue on reforms, which would enable peace and progress for all citizens? Previous efforts to advance the goal of reconciliation have failed. Turkey needs a political solution involving the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of the PKK, enhancing Turkey’s integration with Euro-Atlantic institutions.
Next year is the 100-year anniversary of the Turkish Republic. Instead of dividing society, Erdoğan should align himself with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s plea for “Peace at Home, Peace Abroad”.
David Phillips is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a visiting research scholar at Oxford University.
