Why Turkey's Erdogan is mulling release of PKK leader from prison
Despite conciliatory messages from Turkey’s ruling coalition, the arrest of a district mayor from the main opposition party has cast doubt over a potential opening with the Kurds.
ANKARA — Breaking nearly 10 days of silence Wednesday after his ultranationalist ally’s call for the conditional release of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the idea an “unprecedented opportunity," suggesting his openness to the groundbreaking proposal.
But Turkish authorities’ arrest of a democratically elected district mayor the same day has cast doubt on the government’s readiness to undertake the reforms needed to resolve the nation’s decades-old Kurdish problem.
What happened
Devlet Bahceli, a top ally of Erdogan and leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), on Oct. 22 suggested that Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence without parole since 1999, could be released if he declares the PKK disbanded.
