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Turkey’s new Kurdish peace process explained

16 27
24.01.2025

At the opening of the Turkish Parliament in early October, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) chairman Devlet Bahçeli, a known far-right ultranationalist and President Erdoğan’s main coalition partner, surprised onlookers by cheerfully shaking hands with several MPs representing the pro-Kurdish DEM Party.

The MHP and Bahçeli himself have been well known for their antagonism towards Turkey’s pro-Kurdish parties over the years and fiercely opposed a previous peace process initiated by Erdoğan’s government that lasted from 2009 until its collapse in 2013-14.

In a parliamentary speech in late October, Bahçeli confirmed suspicions of Turkey’s new Kurdish peace process and explained that it was a reboot by expressing openness to the idea of releasing Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) who has been imprisoned on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999. Engaged in a major conflict with the Turkish Armed Forces since the 1980s, the PKK is classified by Turkey as a terrorist organization.

Devlet Bahçeli has called on Abdullah Öcalan to declare a full disarmament of the PKK in exchange for his possible release or a transition to house arrest. What the other Kurdish political leaders involved in the process stand to gain is less clear, but many experts believe the initiative is related to President Erdoğan’s ongoing push to change the Turkish Constitution, possibly allowing him to run for office once his current eligibility expires in 2028. Securing the DEM Party’s vote in the legislature for such a constitutional change would significantly boost the chances of the initiative succeeding.

The possibility of securing the release of the imprisoned Kurdish political leader Selahattin Demirtaş as part of the talks has been rumored but remains unconfirmed. Demirtaş, former co-chair of the DEM predecessor People’s Democratic Party (HDP), has been imprisoned in Edirne since 2016. In May of last year, Demirtaş was sentenced to an additional 42 years in prison by Turkish courts, and his release has been demanded by the Council of Europe on numerous occasions. Despite his imprisonment, Demirtaş remains influential in Kurdish politics in Turkey.

DEM deputies Pervin Buldan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder visited Abdullah Öcalan at the İmralı prison on December 28.

© Medyascope