Jailed İstanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has urged the Turkish government to launch a new peace process under the auspices of the Grand National Assembly, following the recent congress decision by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to dissolve its armed wing.
In a statement issued from Silivri Prison on 18 May, İmamoğlu, presidential candidate for main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), called on ruling authorities to meet the public’s yearning for peace with transparency and courage. “Let peace take root under the roof of the Grand National Assembly,” he said. “Do not fear the wisdom of this people.”
The message was shared by İmamoğlu’s Presidential Campaign Office, which is preparing for the country’s 2028 presidential elections, and comes amid renewed debate over the future of the Kurdish issue in Turkey, after the PKK announced at its congress on 12 May that it would formally dissolve its military structures.
“Our beautiful country has lived through more than forty years of violence and fear,” İmamoğlu wrote. “Mothers drowned in tears; young people’s hopes were left unfinished. Now, the deepest longing of our nation is for a peace that can take root again — a song of brotherhood that casts no shadow over anyone.”
He continued by quoting Kurdish and Anatolian poets, including Melayê Cizîrî, Yunus Emre and Mevlana, invoking a message of spiritual unity and reconciliation. “The people of this land are so thirsty for peace that they value it beyond your imagination,” he said.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, the country’s third-largest party, has also welcomed the PKK’s decision, as it has long advocated for a peaceful and political resolution to the decades-long conflict. Past peace initiatives — including negotiations between the Turkish state and imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan between 2013 and 2015 — ultimately collapsed, giving way to renewed violence.
İmamoğlu’s remarks also reference the importance of democratic accountability, saying that any future peace process should be “in front of the nation’s eyes” and conducted within Turkey’s elected legislature. He urged policymakers to seize the opportunity to build social harmony and open a new chapter for the republic’s second century.
“True peace is only forged with love and tolerance,” he said. “It is not hands that destroy hearts, but those that build them that must reach out to one another.”
İmamoğlu remains in pre-trial detention in Silivri on charges widely viewed as politically motivated. His continued imprisonment has become a rallying point for opposition supporters and a symbol of the democratic backsliding critics say has accelerated under the current government.
