Uncertainty Lingers Over Turkey'sNegotiations with Ocalan
Tulin Daloglu writes that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is expected to call for the end of armed struggle in Turkey, and asks what the state is promising in return and why the government is seeking Ocalan’s blessing.
Speculation abounds as to what (and how) Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan will or will not say on March 21, when Kurds in Turkey mark Newroz, their new year’s celebration. A most likely scenario is that Ocalan will reassert that he is in direct negotiations with the Turkish government to gain constitutional guarantees for Kurdish rights and that it is time to end the use of violence as a tactic in the Kurdish movement in Turkey.
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), met with Ocalan on March 18. The Justice Ministry allowed this third visit to Imrali, the island off the coast of Bursa where Ocalan has been imprisoned since 1999, to demonstrate the government’s seriousness and dedication to the peace process. BDP deputies Pervin Buldan and Sirri Sureyya Onder joined Demirtas for what was their second visit to Imrali.
After the meeting, Demirtas said to reporters, "The current resolution process [on the Kurdish issue] is moving ahead positively. Our goal is to democratize the whole of Turkey." He then said that Ocalan will "make a historic statement on March 21 that will serve this purpose." He did not specifiy how the message will be delivered.
Since the public became aware of the government’s talks with Ocalan in December, the process has continued without interruption and with members of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) helping Ocalan communicate with his supporters. This invites the question of whether the government has carefully thought through its engagement with the PKK leader as the trial of 26 Ocalan lawyers continues in Istanbul for allegedly carrying information from their client to his supporters outside.
