Why did Turkey allow jailed Kurdish leader to meet lawyers after long pause?
In his first meeting with lawyers in eight years, imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan called for "democratic negotiation" between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds and for hunger strikers protesting his treatment not to endanger their health.
Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has called on US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to refrain from conflict with Turkey and to take what he termed Turkey’s sensibilities into account. The 70-year-old guerrilla boss relayed his appeal through his lawyers after they were granted access to him for the first time in eight years.
The Turkish authorities' decision to end his isolation has spurred speculation of a possible resumption of peace talks that would include a deal on Syria. Others say it's part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plan to ditch his nationalist partners and win Kurdish support, which proved critical to the opposition’s victory, before a rerun of municipal elections in Istanbul. Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Commission ruled in favor of Erdogan’s demands for fresh elections today.
But the immediate goal appeared to be to leverage Ocalan’s uncontested leadership over the PKK to persuade thousands of prisoners who are on an extended hunger strike in protest of his isolation to end their fast.
In a statement that was shared by his lawyers at a news conference today, Ocalan called for "democratic negotiation" between Turkey and the Kurds and the use of soft power instead of “tools of physical violence.” He said, “We believe that though the Syrian Democratic Forces, all parties should strive to resolve outstanding issues in Syria by shunning the culture of conflict and embracing constitutionally enshrined local democracy within the framework of a united Syria.”
