Jailed Kurdish militant leader calls for end to conflict with Turkey | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Saturday
July 12, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2025
Jailed Kurdish militant leader calls for end to conflict with Turkey

World+Biz

Reuters
27 February, 2025, 09:50 pm
Last modified: 27 February, 2025, 09:58 pm

Related News

  • In video, jailed PKK leader Ocalan says armed struggle with Turkey over
  • Turkey blocks X's Grok chatbot for alleged insults to Erdogan
  • Türkiye Defence Industries secretary meets army chief
  • Bangladesh & WEU inks MoU to promote traditional sports
  • Syrian authorities evacuate citizens amid major forest fires

Jailed Kurdish militant leader calls for end to conflict with Turkey

Meanwhile, Ocalan, now 75, could see his dream of peace during his lifetime realised

Reuters
27 February, 2025, 09:50 pm
Last modified: 27 February, 2025, 09:58 pm
Pro-Kurd protesters hold flags with portraits of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan as they take part in a demonstration in support to him in Strasbourg, France, February 16, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler
Pro-Kurd protesters hold flags with portraits of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan as they take part in a demonstration in support to him in Strasbourg, France, February 16, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

Turkey's jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down arms on Thursday, a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Ankara and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region.

If the PKK's leadership heeds its founder's appeal, which is not guaranteed, President Tayyip Erdogan would gain a historic opportunity to pacify and develop southern Turkey, where violence has killed thousands of people and devastated the regional economy.

Meanwhile, Ocalan, now 75, could see his dream of peace during his lifetime realised.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

For neighbouring Syria, the new administration may be able to assert more control over its Kurdish north and unite a nation fractured by civil war, while it would also remove a constant flashpoint in Kurdish-run, oil-rich northern Iraq where the PKK set up its base two decades ago.

"I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call," Ocalan said in a letter made public by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM Party members.

Ocalan wants his party to hold a congress and to formally agree to dissolve itself, they quoted him as saying.

A DEM delegation visited Ocalan on Thursday in his island prison and later delivered his statement in nearby Istanbul.

There was no immediate response from the PKK commanders' headquarters in the mountains of northern Iraq.

In the first reaction to Ocalan's appeal from President Erdogan's ruling AK Party, its deputy chairman Efkan Ala said Turkey would be "free of its shackles" if the PKK truly laid down its weapons and disbanded.

The PKK is deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.

More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its armed campaign in 1984 for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey. It has since moved away from its separatist goals and instead sought more autonomy for southeast Turkey and greater Kurdish rights.

'Peace and Democratic Society'

A close political ally of Erdogan proposed four months ago that Ocalan order his fighters to end their armed struggle, a decade after a previous Turkey-PKK peace process collapsed.

In his message, Ocalan urged Turkey to show respect for ethnic minorities, freedom of expression and the right to democratic self-organisation.

"The language of the epoch of peace and democratic society needs to be developed in accordance with this reality," Ocalan said in his letter, adding that this meant the armed struggle had "run its course" and needed to be wound up.

The seven-member delegation from the DEM Party met Ocalan on Thursday on Imrali island in the Sea of Marmara, where he has been held in near-total isolation since 1999.

It was the party's third visit to Ocalan since December, amid rising hopes that he would make such an appeal to his fighters to end their struggle.

Bangladesh

Kurdish / Turkey / syria / Abdullah Ocalan

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Caught between a rock and a hard place. Cartoon: TBS
    Bangladesh's Trump tariff dilemma: Caught between a rock and a hard place?
  • Bangladeshi garment workers make clothing in the sewing section of a factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, April 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo
    Some Walmart garment orders from Bangladesh on hold due to US tariff threat
  • Bangladesh and US hold tariff talks on 11 July 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    Dhaka, Washington to continue inter-ministerial dialogue as tariff talks end without full consensus

MOST VIEWED

  • In terms of stream of education, girls maintained their excellence as well. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: Girls dominate boys by over 5%
  • Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    SSC, equivalent results: Pass rate drops to 68.45%, GPA-5 also declines
  • The overall pass rate across all boards this year, 68.45%, is significantly lower than last year's. Photo: Focus Bangla
    SSC 2025: Rajshahi board records highest pass rate, Barishal lowest
  • How S Alam’s Global Islami Bank cooked Tk2,259cr loss into Tk128cr profit
    How S Alam’s Global Islami Bank cooked Tk2,259cr loss into Tk128cr profit
  • Representational image. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: 73.63% pass rate among technical students, 68.09% at Madrasahs
  • Economist Abul Barkat; Photo: Courtesy
    Economist Abul Barkat arrested in graft case

Related News

  • In video, jailed PKK leader Ocalan says armed struggle with Turkey over
  • Turkey blocks X's Grok chatbot for alleged insults to Erdogan
  • Türkiye Defence Industries secretary meets army chief
  • Bangladesh & WEU inks MoU to promote traditional sports
  • Syrian authorities evacuate citizens amid major forest fires

Features

After India's visa restriction, China's Kunming is drawing Bangladeshi patients

After India's visa restriction, China's Kunming is drawing Bangladeshi patients

16h | Panorama
Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

1d | The Big Picture
Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

1d | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered — have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Renowned economist Abul Barkat imprisoned

Renowned economist Abul Barkat imprisoned

14h | TBS Today
All of Iran's uranium still intact, Israel claims

All of Iran's uranium still intact, Israel claims

14h | TBS World
Trump-Netanyahu in new strategy on Gaza issue

Trump-Netanyahu in new strategy on Gaza issue

16h | TBS World
Shocking science: why birds stay safe on electricity lines

Shocking science: why birds stay safe on electricity lines

16h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net