Is the Kurdish Movement Integrating into the Regime?
Turkey has plunged into a deep debate following PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s call from İmralı. The key issue is whether Öcalan’s call applies solely to all organizations established within the PKK framework or if it extends to all Kurdish structures in the region. Since the artificial borders drawn by France and Britain after World War I, the Kurds have been divided among four countries—Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria—where they have faced a century of heavy repression and assimilation policies.
Denied the right to their native language, the Kurds have paid a heavy price in all four countries. One of the most horrific examples was Saddam Hussein’s Halabja Massacre between 1986 and 1988, where chemical weapons were used.
Considering this historical backdrop, the region is currently experiencing one of its least favorable periods for peace. Turkey is undergoing one of the most fascist periods in its republican history. The political rights of the Kurds are being stripped away, their demands are violently suppressed, and Kurdish opinion leaders and politicians are being imprisoned one after another. While all regime opponents are facing oppression, it is fair to say that the heaviest burden is borne by the Kurds and members of the Gülen movement.
In Syria, an Ankara-backed coup brought a Sharia-based group to power. Last weekend, global media outlets reported on the massacre of Alawites on the Syrian coast perpetrated by this Islamist organization. The sectarian regime not only considers Alawites as enemies but also sees Kurds, dissenting Muslims, and Druze as threats.
In Iran, Kurds are also under severe repression. The number of Kurds arrested and executed has reached staggering levels.
Only the Kurds living under the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, which gained autonomy following U.S. intervention, appear to be outside this pattern of repression. However, even this region has effectively fallen under Turkish military occupation and influence.
In summary, the Kurds in Syria, Iran, and Turkey are confronting the denialist and oppressive policies of Islamist regimes.
It was in this reality that Abdullah Öcalan called on the PKK to lay down its arms and dissolve itself. The PKK quickly accepted the call and declared a ceasefire.
It is reported that this call came as a result of negotiations that have been ongoing for over a year, conducted through Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and involving senior members of the judiciary. DEM Party MP Cengiz Çandar, a veteran journalist closely following these processes, stated in a program on Artıgerçek TV that the Iraqi President played a role in the negotiations and was responsible for the talks with PKK leaders in the Qandil Mountains. Contrary to claims made by Erdoğan, Bahçeli, and regime spokespersons, there is reportedly a written agreement, which explains the noticeable optimism and joy within the Kurdish political movement.
The gratitude and well-wishes expressed by DEM Party politicians, including former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been imprisoned for over eight years, toward Erdoğan and Bahçeli can be understood in this context.
According to academic Yektan Türkyılmaz, who closely monitors the developments, this stance suggests that the Kurdish political movement is aligning itself with the regime. Erdoğan needs both the votes of DEM Party MPs in Parliament and the support of Kurds in the streets to call for an early election and pass a constitutional amendment that would grant him lifelong presidency. Türkyılmaz believes this move has secured that support.
Regardless of the motive, there is no obstacle to the PKK laying down arms within Turkey’s borders and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and formally dissolving itself by convening a congress.
The critical question remains: How will the PKK disarm? What will happen to its cadres who lay down arms? And does Öcalan’s call also apply to Syrian Kurds and the Rojava administration? Figures closely following the negotiations, such as Selahattin Demirtaş and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, assert that the call does indeed include them.
However, Rojava is a de facto recognized administration within the anti-ISIS coalition. It controls prisons housing thousands of ISIS detainees. Despite Trump’s previous statements, there are currently no signs that the U.S. is withdrawing from Syria. Even if the Trump administration were to return, any Turkish intervention in the region would likely be met with severe sanctions from the U.S. Congress. Additionally, the Ahmed al-Shaara administration is aware that attacking the Kurds would result in losing the urgent economic aid it desperately needs from the West. In short, the Rojava issue has evolved from being merely a dispute between Turkey and the Kurds to a geopolitical matter involving the U.S., Israel, and European countries with regional interests.
In response to this situation, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli issued a written statement rejecting the PKK’s ceasefire, insisting that the group must immediately and unconditionally disarm. He also claimed that Öcalan’s call applied to the Rojava administration.
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander Mazloum Abdi later issued a statement clarifying that Öcalan’s call does not apply to them.
In this scenario, Öcalan’s emphasis on disarmament being accompanied by democratic reforms and political arrangements has been largely ignored, failing to trigger any shift in the regime’s authoritarian and repressive nature.
We will all witness how this process unfolds in the coming period.
Another major development this week was Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s official launch of his presidential candidacy campaign. He has begun touring Anatolia, and on March 23, he is expected to secure his nomination in the CHP primary. Current polls indicate that İmamoğlu is leading against Erdoğan.
The week’s most tragicomic event was the Ministry of Trade launching an investigation into food critic gourmet Vedat Milor. The ministry accused him of unfair competition and secret advertising after he praised the meals served at municipal-run People’s Kitchens, which provide low-cost meals for low-income citizens in Istanbul.