Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan is expected to make a widely anticipated statement in the coming days – his first video statement after 26 years of isolated detention on the Turkish prison island of İmralı – that could redefine Kurdish-Turkish relations, but its impact depends on how Turkey chooses to respond, warns Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party MP and journalist Cengiz Çandar. Speaking to Mezopotamya Agency, Çandar stressed that while Öcalan has long advocated for peace, the key question remains whether the Turkish state will embrace dialogue or maintain its hardline stance.
"Abdullah Öcalan has been arguing for a long time that he is a pacifist and that the armed struggle is no longer an absolutely necessary tool to achieve the Kurdish cause and ensure social peace in Turkey. This is not new. The issue is how he will convey the message and how society, the state and the political sphere will respond," Çandar said.
Hopes for a political resolution to the Kurdish question were rekindled last year, with Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli inviting Öcalan to parliament to disband the PKK in the autumn, and the start of shuttle talks with Öcalan, led by Pervin Buldan, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, a senior party member, in December. The ‘İmralı delegation’ met with Öcalan on 22 January, marking their second visit in less than a month, and conveyed his initial message of readiness for reconciliation through intensive cross-party and civil society dialogue.
“This will be the beginning of a whole new era,” Çandar said, referring to Öcalan’s forthcoming “historic” call, as announced by DEM Party on 4 February. He stressed that lifting Öcalan’s isolation is an essential prerequisite to his constructive involvment in peace negociations. Çandar suggests that previous attempts to resolve the Kurdish question failed because they tried to move directly from a “solution” to peace, but the lack of a real solution prevented lasting peace. He hinted that the current approach is to establish peace first, with the cessation of the armed struggle, and that Öcalan is expected to make a historic statement soon that could mark a significant step in this process.
Çandar urged the Kurdish people to remain patient despite past disappointments, expressing optimism that Öcalan would lay the groundwork for a sustainable peace process.
Peace negotiations are becoming increasingly urgent amid escalating regional instability following the Hamas attack and Israel’s war in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, while the collapse of Assad’s regime has created a power vacuum, exploited by both Turkey and the rise of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Damascus. This vacuum has intensified Turkey’s military actions against the Kurdish-led regions in Syria and Iraq, with ongoing operations threatening further destabilisation.
Çandar highlighted Turkey’s influence over Syria’s leadership, particularly through its support for interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly Julani) and the appointment of Turkish advisors to key positions. While Turkey provides both political and military leverage to Damascus, it is unable to resolve Syria’s severe economic and humanitarian crises, prompting potential shift from al-Sharaa in his relations with Kurdish forces in the north, Çandar noted. He pointed out al-Sharaa’s positive remarks about SDF General Mazloum Abdi during recent high-level Ankara-Damascus talks, signalling a potential shift towards dialogue.
"It is striking that al-Sharaa spoke very well about [SDF General Commander] Mazloum Abdi both before and after his visit to Turkey. There is a dialogue between them, he wants to give it a chance."
This comes amid Damascus’s moves to dissolve the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to form a new Syrian Army, moves objected to by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), who advocate for a decentralised system.
Çandar further discussed al-Sharaa’s dilemma in balancing alliances with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar while managing Western skepticism due to his extremist affiliations as HTS leader. The international community demands a more inclusive, democratic transition to lift sanctions, which, if unmet, could leave Syria in political fragmentation and economic collapse, with Turkey’s support insufficient to stabilise the country. Lastly, Çandar remarked on the new US administration’s prioritisation of Israeli security and efforts to normalise relations between Israel and several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia.
