EP Turkey rapporteur welcomes Öcalan’s call
The European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor has welcomed jailed PKK leader Öcalan’s call and deemed it “historic.” Öcalan called on the PKK to disarm and dissolve following the government’s initiative.
Duvar English
The European Parliament's (EP) Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor on Feb. 27 welcomed the call of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Öcalan on Feb. 27 called on the PKK to disarm and dissolve itself, saying they must seek democratic consensus as “separate nation-state, federation, administrative autonomy or culturalist solutions fails to answer the historical sociology of the society” currently.
Moreover, Öcalan argued that “the collapse of socialism… the dissolution of the denial of Kurdish identity in the country, and improvements in freedom of expression” weakened “the PKK´s foundational meaningfulness.”
In a social media statement, Amor deemed Öcalan’s call “historic.”
Amor said the call would be “the best starting point for a potential political and inclusive process that will peacefully settle the Kurdish issue in Turkey, based in dialogue & reconciliation.”
The PKK, designated a “terrorist” group by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 with the initial aim of creating an independent Kurdish state.
It subsequently moderated its goals to seek greater Kurdish rights and limited autonomy in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.