SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has expressed support for the recent message from their imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan regarding the resolution of the Kurdish issue in Turkey, reaffirming their commitment to his vision and hoping that the new year will bring both his release and a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish question.
On December 28, in the first such visit in nearly a decade, PKK imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan met with a delegation from pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) delegation in Imrali, stressing the importance of strengthening Kurdish-Turkish brotherhood. He urged all political parties in Turkey to adopt a constructive approach and emphasized that success would require political unity, with the Turkish parliament playing a key role.
In a statement, the KCK declared that the views of their leader “Leader Apo” (Abdullah Öcalan), expressed in his last message in the final days of 2024, will serve as a guide for their struggle in the coming year.
The KCK addressed the efforts behind the meeting between their leader and the DEM Party delegation, stating, “This meeting came as a result of Leader Apo’s ongoing efforts for the Kurdish freedom movement, the Kurdish people, and their friends in Kurdistan and around the world.”
“Despite the darkness imposed on him, our leader Abdullah Öcalan once again offered positive solutions and insights, expanding the path to freedom,” added the KCK statement, highlighting that their leader stressed that these perspectives are key to resolving the Kurdish issue, Turkey’s democratic transformation, and Middle Eastern problems.
The KCK expressed their hopes for the new year, hoping that “the new year will bring the release of Leader Apo, the resolution of the Kurdish issue, the democratization of Turkey, and peace and stability for our region and the world.”
Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the MHP and ally of Erdogan, proposed in October that Abdullah Öcalan end the Kurdish insurgency in exchange for his release, aiming to resolve the Turkey-PKK conflict through dialogue. Erdogan called it a “historic window of opportunity,” but has not discussed a peace process.
Since his capture over 25 years ago, PKK founding leader Abdullah Öcalan has been serving a life sentence on İmralı Island, south of Istanbul.
