DIYARBAKIR (Turkey) Jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan on Thursday called for a ceasefire, telling his fighters to lay down their arms and withdraw from Turkey, raising hopes for an end to a three-decade conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.

“We are at a stage where guns should be silenced,” Ocalan said in a letter written from his isolated island prison cell and read out by a pro-Kurdish lawmaker to vast crowds in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

Ocalan, the founding leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said it was time for “politics to prevail, not arms,” as he called for armed militants to withdraw from Turkey.

The move caps months of clandestine peace talks between Turkey’s spy agency and the state’s former nemesis Ocalan, whose movement is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its western allies.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ocalan, branded a “baby killer” by many Turks, both appear to have staked their political futures on the renewed push to end the 29-year armed campaign for self-rule that has killed some 45,000 people, mostly Kurds.

“A door is opened from armed struggle to democratic struggle,” said the 64-year-old Ocalan, known as “Apo” or uncle to Kurds who has been serving a life sentence for treason on Imrali island off Istanbul since 1999.

“It is not the end of the struggle, it is the beginning of a new one,” he added. “It is time for unity.”

Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler gave a cautious welcome to Ocalan’s announcement. “The language is the language of peace, we must now see it put into action,” Guler was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying.

The peace talks were launched last year after a dramatic upsurge in PKK attacks against Turkish security forces.

Agence France-Presse

via Oman Tribune – the edge of knowledge.

Turkey should continue engaging with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in order to resolve its Kurdish conflict.

By Paul Napolitano

Contributor

The crisis in Syria has dominated media coverage and refocused international attention on the need for stability and security in the Middle East. Yet a more enduring case of humanitarian crisis has been forgotten in neighboring Turkey. The conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has persisted for 28 years and has claimed over 40,000 lives. This persistent conflict has been neglected as U.S. and international interests in neighboring Syria, Iran, and Iraq have dominated headlines. The grievances of the Kurdish population in the Middle East cross national borders; a forceful effort to address the problems in Turkey – by far the most stable state in the region – will have positive effects for its less stable neighbors.

Abdullah Öcalan, the isolated PKK leader serving a life sentence since 1999, is the unlikely key to ending this conflict. Labeled a terrorist by the U.S., Turkish, and EU governments, Öcalan is still an influential figure amongst Turkey’s Kurds; a two-month hunger strike by nearly 700 Kurdish prisoners stopped immediately when Öcalan advised they cease.

Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has apparently come to understand Öcalan’s key role in the fragile peace process. Engaging in negotiations with Öcalan, secretly at first to avoid opposition criticism, the Turkish government is displaying a desire for peace. Öcalan has responded by agreeing to a framework for a PKK ceasefire contingent on a more inclusive definition of Turkish citizenship and the allowance of Kurdish language education. Revealing the key regional dynamics, he agreed to pressure the PKK-affiliated Syrian Kurds to distance themselves from the Assad regime.

The Kurdish conflict has plagued the Turkish state since its inception and currently threatens Turkey’s coveted entry into the European Union. Rampant discrimination of Kurds at all levels of government and society has stained Turkey’s modern and secular reputation.

Turkey needs to undertake fundamental constitutional and political reforms to fully address its Kurdish conflict; progress towards a ceasefire with the PKK will signal a commitment to Western democratic ideals. Consequently, a stabilization of relations between the Turkish Kurds and the Turkish government would positively influence the conflict dynamics in Syria and Iraqi; the Kurdish guerilla movements in those countries closely align themselves with actions of the PKK, and could be swayed toward peace by Öcalan. Peace with the PKK would win the favor of the Western community that Turkey has been so desperate to join and stabilize some parts of the world’s most troublesome region.

The problem? The process means engaging with an insurgent leader that has come to be reviled by ethnic Turks as the face of Kurdish violence against the Turkish population. The decision to negotiate with Öcalan is clearly fraught with political and cultural difficulties. The AKP could lose meaningful political support, as nationalist Turks favoring the constitutional definition of an ethnically homogenous Turkey defect to the opposition parties. Nevertheless, engagement is a key step in a much more intensive process of reform.

Outside intervention, especially from Iranian and Syrian Kurdish communities, may attempt to derail the peace talks with bursts of violence. A breakdown in negotiations could lead to resumption of outright military conflict, as when negotiations failed in 2011, resulting in a dramatic increase in violence last year.

In any event, the Turkish government has identified the key actor to pursue peace in the most unlikely place. The resolution of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey would positively affect the region and could provide much needed stability for weary Western powers. The United States and the EU must praise these renewed efforts for peace and support the process. There will be missteps and difficulties in the coming months, but renewed displays of international support will motivate the parties, especially the Turkish government, to maintain this effort. This is a rare and fleeting opportunity that cannot be wasted.

Paul Napolitano is enrolled at the MA in International Affairs degree program at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. A native of New Orleans, LA, Paul holds a master’s degree in Comparative History from Brandeis University (2009). Before enrolling in the Elliott School, he spent two years working in the nonprofit sector as part of the effort to rebuild the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina.

This image is being used under Creative Commons licensing courtesy of Wikimedia.

via An End to the Kurdish Conflict in Turkey is in Reach, and in Prison | International Affairs Review.

by Miranda Sumey

March 30, 2013

The recent historic address from imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Adbullah Ocalan sent political speculators scurrying to extol Turkey’s prospects of finally obtaining a “real peace.” While the latest efforts at peace between the Turkish government and Kurdish rebels may in fact be the most serious to date, the situation remains as fragile as ever. Much more than a ceasefire has to occur before a permanent armistice can take hold in the Kurdish region of Turkey. Both parties still face an uphill battle.

Ocalan’s group of rebels, known as the PKK, has been waging war with the Turkish government for nearly 30 years. Originally, Ocalan called for the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, but of late the PKK has tempered its demands to include increased autonomy and political rights for the Kurdish people. A minority ethnic group residing primarily in the region straddling the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, the Kurds make up an estimated 15 million of Turkey’s total population of 80 million. They have long suffered discrimination and oppression at the hands of the Turkish government, the conflict with whom has left over 40,000 dead on both sides and trapped large portions of Turkey in residual poverty. Presently, the PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, including the United States.

In his latest statement from prison, Ocalan asked rebel fighters of the PKK to put an end to the ongoing violence and withdraw from Turkey completely. “Let guns be silenced and politics dominate,” said Ocalan in a statement read in Diyarbakir by a pro-Kurdish politician.[1] “The stage has been reached where our armed forces should withdraw beyond the borders … It’s not the end. It’s the start of a new era.”[2]

Despite the seemingly rosy overtones, however, this is not the first time the Kurdish rebels have declared a cease-fire. In the past, most Kurdish attempts at peace have been ignored by the government, which has vowed to fight the PKK until the bitter end. Turkish forces allegedly ambushed and massacred PKK combatants in 1999 as they retreated under orders from Ocalan, who first called for peace soon after his imprisonment. A similar incident occurred during another unilateral decision to capitulate in 2004. For many Kurds, these actions by the Turkish government speak louder than any appeals for peace from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Repeat reneging on the part of the Turks has left a bitter taste in the Kurdish mouth. Still, all hope is not lost: despite his 14-year incarceration in a prison island near Istanbul, Ocalan wields a lot of control over the PKK, and his calls for peace are not likely to fall on deaf ears. PKK commanders in Iraq have declared support for his peace initiative, and Kurdish fighters in Turkey will likely obey Ocalan’s plea and withdraw.

For his part as well, Prime Minister Erdogan has cast his political clout behind Ocalan’s efforts at peace. “If guns are put down, military operations will cease,” he said in response to Ocalan.[3] A real peace promises to benefit more than just the repressed Kurdish people. Recent efforts at a lasting peace follow a surge in bloodshed last year that cost nearly a thousand lives on both sides and may have strengthened the resolve of the Turkish government to find a permanent solution to the conflict. Concurrently, a Kurdish group linked to the PKK has gained control in Syria in the midst of a bloody civil war, further worrying the Turkish government. Additionally, it comes as no surprise that Turkey’s conflict with the PKK is hampering its economic and political ambitions in the region, as residual conflict has left large portions of the country mired in poverty.

The primary difference between this latest movement and previous efforts at peace centers on its transparency. Prior negotiations between the Turkish government and the PKK were conducted in secret, often going unnoticed by the public. This time, however, both sides aim to carry out talks in the open. In a gesture of goodwill, the PKK recently released eight Turkish hostages held captive by the guerillas since last year. The first concrete, tangible result of the peace talks has sparked renewed hope.

While speculators across the world may see a light at the end of the tunnel, many in the region share the sentiment that this is only the latest iteration in a string of many unfruitful peace initiatives. In the streets of the Kurdish region, skepticism abounds regarding the government’s commitment to peace. Thirty years of strife and entire generations who know nothing but violence have left the Kurds with minimal trust in the government. Truthfully, the road to peace is fraught with obstacles. Ocalan is relying on his PKK colleagues who he hasn’t seen in over a decade to toe his line. Erdogan, as well, faces political opposition from government hard-liners who resist any increases in Kurdish rights or autonomy. Hawks on both sides are likely to try and sabotage the peace process and resume the carnage. Despite the challenges, however, exasperated Kurds and Turks alike have little to do but cling to prospects of peace.

If the Turkish government can successfully navigate the many roadblocks that it will encounter in the coming months, they might just be able to capitalize on this opportunity for implementing a permanent solution to the Kurdish conflict. A ceasefire is a major step towards a resolution to one of Europe’s longest conflicts, but laying down arms alone will not bring about enduring peace: both sides must follow through, and the slow wheels of democracy and constitutional change must turn. Peace will not happen overnight.

The war may be over

Will a Kurdish leader’s peace offering stick?

Mar 30th 2013 | ANKARA |From the print edition

ABDULLAH OCALAN, the Kurdish rebel leader and sole inmate of a Turkish island prison since 1999, should by now “have become a perfect irrelevance, the living dead, a Kurdish Ariel Sharon. And yet he had not. His every delusional sally, every spasm of self-pity and promotion was greeted by his supporters as evidence for an ability to outsmart his jailers.” Thus wrote a puzzled Christopher de Bellaigue, a British author (and a former correspondent for this paper) in “Rebel Land”, a tale of eastern Turkey published in 2009.

Five years on, Turkey is banking on Mr Ocalan’s continued grip to end the 29-year-long rebellion waged by his outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). On March 21st, in a calibrated message read out by members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) party to over a million Kurds gathered in Diyarbakir, in south-eastern Turkey, Mr Ocalan heralded the dawn of “a new Turkey”, saying it was time for “the guns to fall silent and for ideas to speak”. Assurances followed that the Kurds no longer had designs on Turkey’s borders. Turks and Kurds ought to “unite under the banner of Islam”.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s mildly Islamist prime minister, called Mr Ocalan’s prose “positive”. Murat Karayilan, a senior PKK commander in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, swiftly declared a ceasefire. The pro-government Turkish media were awash with triumphalism. “The war is over”, assorted screeds declared.

This may be premature. Mr Ocalan did not set any deadlines for the withdrawal of some 3,000 PKK fighters from the mainly Kurdish south-east. Nor did he specifically say they should disarm. In a subsequent interview Mr Karayilan was less diplomatic. His men were as ready for peace as they were for war. The ceasefire needs to be mutually observed and the government must embark on long-promised reforms, he said. Among these is a judicial reform package that would allow thousands of Kurdish activists and politicians, locked up on flimsy “terror” charges, to walk free.

An amnesty for PKK fighters untainted by violence and improved prison conditions for Mr Ocalan are also on the list. Above all, the Kurds want a new “democratic” constitution enshrining their own cultural and political rights. In short, any withdrawal needs to be synchronised with these reforms. None of this will be easy. Seven previous ceasefires have come to naught.

Mr Erdogan is no stranger to risk. He has declawed hawkish generals and jailed hundreds of those who plotted to unseat him. His pro-secular and ultranationalist rivals are pitifully weak. His national spy chief and Mr Ocalan have stitched a deal. (Mr Erdogan’s earlier threats to revive the death penalty may have had an effect.) Its terms were largely dictated by the government. It is rumoured to include assurances that the BDP will back Mr Erdogan’s bid for the presidency next year.

Should he fail, Mr Ocalan may get the blame, which could lead to a splintering of the PKK. “This is Erdogan’s true aim: to drive a wedge between Ocalan and the mountains,” a veteran BDP officials claims. Others speculate that he wants to buy temporary calm in order to secure an easy ride to the presidency.

Mr Erdogan owes his unprecedented heft to his vision and, most of all, to a strong pragmatic streak. It prompted him to embrace Iraq’s Kurds, whose vast energy riches and seemingly limitless hunger for Turkish goods and services are expected to boost growth. In another dramatic U-turn Mr Erdogan decided to accept Israel’s apology on March 22nd for its 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which left nine Turks dead (see article).

Mr Erdogan, whose many ambitions include hosting the 2020 Olympics in Istanbul, must know that a divided and more radical PKK is likely to resort to the sort of terrorism that would make Turkey’s relatively calm cities unsafe. “Solving the PKK problem is not the same as solving the Kurdish problem,” warned Safeen Dizayee, a spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish statelet. History has shown that until their rights are granted, the Kurds will rise up again and again.

From the print edition: Europe

via Turkey and the PKK: The war may be over | The Economist.