Leading French philosophers have voiced support for renewed political dialogue between Kurdish and Turkish actors, following Abdullah Öcalan’s recent call for peace and democratic transformation.
Alain Badiou, one of France’s most influential living philosophers, sent a message directly to Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, expressing solidarity with efforts toward political unity. The message, published on the DEM Party’s official website on Sunday, described the current moment as historically significant for peoples resisting global imperialism.
“We are in a time when peoples must organise against the manoeuvres of various imperialisms, and this clearly includes strong steps towards political unity,” Badiou wrote. He added that he and his partner, Isabelle Vodoz, are ready to support grassroots initiatives of solidarity from France.
Badiou, born in 1937 Rabat, is a major figure in post-1968 radical thought. A student of Althusser and Canguilhem, he has remained politically active for decades and is known for his philosophical work on truth, universality and political subjectivity. His books—including Being and Event, Logics of Worlds, and The Immanence of Truths—have been translated into Turkish and read widely among Kurdish intellectual circles.
The message came in response to Öcalan’s 27 February appeal from prison on İmralı Island, in which the Kurdish leader called the disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and political reconciliation with the Turkish state.
While Badiou’s intervention drew significant attention, other prominent French intellectuals also expressed support. Edgar Morin, the 102-year-old sociologist and philosopher, described the peace process as a matter of human dignity and democratic values.
