Jailed Öcalan allowed to meet family after 43 months, says he has ‘power to move process from violence to politics’

Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been kept in İmralı Island, was allowed to meet with his family after 43 months. “If the conditions are met, I have the power to move the process from violence to politics,” Öcalan told his nephew DEM Party deputy Ömer Öcalan regarding the government’s seeming reconciliation efforts.

Duvar English

The imprisoned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan was allowed to meet with his family members face to face after 43 months. 

Öcalan’s nephew, opposition Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party deputy Ömer Öcalan announced the move, and said he met with the PKK leader on Oct. 23.

“The last face-to-face meeting with Mr. Abdullah Öcalan was on March 3, 2020. As a family, we had a meeting with Mr. Öcalan on October 23, 2024 after many years. We want routine family visits, which is a legal right, to continue regardless of the conditions,” Ömer Öcalan said.

Öcalan has been kept in isolation for 25 years in F Type High-Security Prison on İmralı Island in Bursa, serving an aggravated life sentence. The jailed PKK leader last had a brief phone call with his brother on March 25, 2021. Since the interrupted phone call, no information has been received from Öcalan as well as other prisoners on the island, Hamili Yıldırım, Veysi Aktaş, and Ömer Hayri Konar due to a contact ban.

Ömer Öcalan also convened Abdullah Öcalan’s comments on the recent seeming reconciliation attempts by the government.

“During the meeting, Mr. Öcalan made evaluations on general political developments and asked for the following message to be conveyed to the public: ‘(My) isolation continues. If the conditions are met, I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from the grounds of conflict and violence to the legal and political grounds.’ He was in good health and greeted everyone very much.”

The meeting came after President Erdoğan’s ally, far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli on Oct. 22 invited Abdullah Öcalan to speak at the parliament to disband the PKK.

“If the isolation of the terrorist head (Öcalan) is lifted, let him come and speak at the DEM Party group meeting in the parliament, shout that terrorism is completely over and the (PKK) has been disbanded,” Bahçeli said in a surprising move.

Meanwhile, jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş said, “The understanding that tries to stop the search for solving our problems through talk, dialogue and politics with violence should know that if Öcalan takes the initiative and wants to open the way for politics, we will be behind him with all our strength,” following the attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ) headquarters.

Turkish authorities are suspected of PKK involvement in the attack.

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Topics Abdullah Öcalan Ömer Öcalan İmralı Island PKK Kurdish issue