DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Hundreds of thousands of Kurds rallied here on March 21 in a euphoric show of support for fledgling peace talks between the Turkish government and jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, but a sense of mistrust and belligerence toward Ankara lingered in the festive air.

The huge crowd that packed the venue in Diyarbakir, the largest city of Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, sent out a powerful message re-affirming Ocalan as their leader and endorsing his call on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to “silence the guns” and pull out beyond Turkish borders to pave the way for a negotiated settlement.

But what will the Kurds get in return? Ocalan’s letter from prison, read out to the crowd by Kurdish parliament members, spelled out no more than the prospect of a “new era” to unite Turks and Kurds for a common future, based on equality and democracy.

The human sea — estimated at about 600,000 people — erupted into cheers, flashed the V-sign and shouted slogans. Despite no clear promise on what they would gain, revelers remained confident that their decade-old demands and expectations were safe in the hands of the prisoner on Imrali Island.