On 27 February Abdullah Ocalan, the historic leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), called on the organisation to end its armed struggle with the Turkish state and dissolve itself entirely. In a much-anticipated statement, issued from the high-security island prison of Imrali where he has been held in solitary confinement since 1999, Ocalan instructed the PKK to ‘integrate with the state and society voluntarily and make a decision: all groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself.’
Ocalan stated that this historic declaration was in response to the ‘current atmosphere’ created by overtures from both the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leader of the fascist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli (see FRFI 304, ‘Turkey, Syria and the Kurdish struggle’). Before the delegation left the meeting in Imrali, Ocalan verbally added a note to the written statement: ‘Undoubtedly, the laying down of arms and the dissolution of the PKK in practice require the recognition of democratic politics and a legal framework.’
The main Kurdish organisations, both those part of the PKK-led Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and those outside it broadly supported Ocalan’s statement. The PKK immediately announced that it would not engage in any offensive armed actions against Turkish forces. Kurdish organisations then called on the Turkish state to cease military action against the PKK and allow Ocalan out of prison to organise a congress of the PKK where it could discuss how it dissolves itself. But none of this has happened and the carnival of reaction that followed the announcement suggest that, on the contrary, the country’s most reactionary and authoritarian trends have been strengthened.
Turkish state steps up repression
The ‘current atmosphere’ created by Erdogan has consisted of a massive attack on the democratic rights of Kurdish and oppositional political parties. Since the local elections in March last year, Turkish authorities had already arrested and stripped from office at least 11 local mayors over alleged links to ‘terrorism’ or criminal activities, seven from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) and four from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Then on 19 March the popular CHP mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, was arrested on bogus charges of ‘corruption’ and alleged support for the PKK. Imamoglu’s detention came just days before the CHP formally named him as its candidate in the 2028 presidential election, which he was favourite to win. By arresting Imamoglu, Erdogan is attempting to prevent him from being able to stand, and to take the opportunity to crush any electoral opposition.
Since Imamoglu’s detention, there have been mass protests across Turkey every night, despite a ban on political rallies. These have been brutally repressed with police using tear gas, water cannon, pepper spray and riot shields to beat back protesters. By 28 March nearly 2,000 people had been arrested. The massive and continued demonstrations show the opposition to Erdogan and come on the back of a growing cost of living crisis for the working class. Turkey has one of the biggest divisions between rich and poor in Europe, with the richest 10% of the population owning 70% of the country’s wealth.
Meanwhile the Turkish military has continued to assault PKK positions in the guerrilla-held Medya Defence Zones in northern Iraq. The PKK’s armed wing, the People’s Defence Forces, reported that Turkey had carried out 828 attacks against their bases during the first week of the unilaterally declared ceasefire. These attacks continued with increased ferocity during the Kurdish Newroz festivities.
It is clear the Turkish state has no intention of creating a ‘democratic framework’ in which Kurdish hopes for self-determination can be realised. On the contrary, the forces of reaction in Turkey have been bolstered by what they hope is the neutralisation of the Kurdish struggle. As a leading member of the PKK and co-chair of the KCK, Bese Hozat, told a Kurdish newspaper on 25 March: ‘Now, fascism and oppression in Kurdistan have spread all over Turkey. There can be no democracy and peace in Kurdistan while there is this oppression and fascism in Turkey as well, and no process of peace and democratic society can develop like this.’
Syria and Rojava
Ocalan’s statement strengthened calls by Turkey for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Rojava in western Kurdistan (northeast Syria) to disarm. Ocalan’s statement, combined with the international isolation of Kurdish forces – an isolation which had led them to form a military alliance with the US in 2017 – put them in a position where on 10 March they had little option but to sign an ‘agreement’ with the interim government in Damascus. The agreement was signed by the commander of the SDF, Mazloum Abdi, and Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), now interim President of Syria. The agreement guarantees the citizenship rights of Kurds in Syria and calls for a national ceasefire. But it also includes the integration of the SDF into a national Syrian military force and the integration of the ‘Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria’ (AANES) in Rojava into a national Damascus-based government.
The agreement aligns with the political aims of Turkey, which has backed HTS financially and militarily and has long attempted to eliminate any form of Kurdish autonomy in Rojava. It will put control of border crossings, airports, and oil and gas fields that are currently controlled by the AANES into the hands of the national government. This will give the Turkish state the opportunity, through its Turkish Petroleum Corporation, to exploit these lucrative resources.
The agreement to integrate with Syria’s HTS-led national army and ‘support the Syrian state’s fight against the remnants of the Assad regime’ came at the same time as HTS forces were carrying out the massacre of hundreds of Alawites and other minority groups in Lakatia, the coastal region of Syria. The HTS aligned forces filmed their atrocities, dumped bodies in the streets and burned and looted Alawite homes.
The Kurdish leaders in Rojava clearly hoped signing the agreement would prevent the continued attacks on their region by the misnamed ‘Syrian National Army’ (SNA), a rebel group considered a proxy for Turkey, as well as the Turkish military itself. So far this has not happened, even though the SNA apparently announced its own dissolution and integration into a new Syrian army in January. The armed groups currently attacking Rojava are therefore part of the same Syrian army that the SDF has agreed to integrate with.
Ocalan’s call for the PKK to disarm and dissolve represents in practice a setback for the Kurdish liberation struggle. It is a product of the isolation of the Kurdish struggle and the lack of real international solidarity. As we said in FRFI 304, ‘That the Kurdish movement is under pressure to lay down its arms reflects the failure so far of the international solidarity movement to build real support for its demand for self-determination; a demand that can only be realised through an uncompromising struggle against imperialist intervention in the Middle East and unity with the Palestinian liberation movement’.
Self determination for the Kurdish people! Imperialism out of the Middle East!
Bob Shepherd
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 305 April / May 2025
