Former Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Bülent Arınç has expressed support for ongoing discussions aimed at resolving the Kurdish issue, calling the right to hope “a fundamental right”, referring to the long-term imprisonment of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.
Speaking to journalist Ruşen Çakır on Medyascope on 18 May, Arınç — a founding member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) — said he remained in favour of political efforts to resolve the decades-long conflict, adding, “We support ending this matter, however it may be resolved.”
Arınç also commented on what he described as growing optimism within the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, which has been engaged in renewed dialogue following Turkey’s local elections in March. He said, “I found them all very hopeful. I even visited [DEM Party co-chair Tuncer] Bakırhan. Everyone is enveloped in a sense of hope. I said, ‘Then we, too, will be hopeful.’”
Arınç further addressed the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that found Turkey had violated Abdullah Öcalan’s “right to hope”. Öcalan, the imprisoned founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been held in isolation in İmralı Island Prison since 1999 and is serving a life sentence with no prospect of parole.
“Hope is a fundamental right,” Arınç said. “It is valid not only for Öcalan, but for anyone in the same situation. Hope is the most essential emotion that allows a person to live.”
The principle of the “right to hope”, recognised by the ECtHR, stipulates that individuals serving life sentences must have the possibility of release and rehabilitation, in line with basic human rights.
Arınç was a key figure during the 2013–2015 “solution process”, a failed initiative involving high-level talks between Turkish officials and Kurdish representatives aimed at ending the armed conflict. The process collapsed in 2015, leading to renewed violence and a government crackdown on pro-Kurdish political movements.
