Ankara, Turkey. Jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan said peace-related laws were needed to support a transition to democratic integration in Turkey, in a statement read out on Friday. The comments came a year after he called on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to end its decades-old insurgency and disband.
Call for legal framework
Ocalan’s earlier call raised hopes for an end to a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and has fuelled divisions and hindered development in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, though progress has been slow.
Ocalan’s statement was read by a senior figure in the pro-Kurdish DEM Party at a press conference. “The transition to democratic integration necessitates laws of peace,” Ocalan said, adding that the democratic society solution envisions a “legal framework with political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions.”
Parliamentary commission road map
Ocalan’s call could be taken to endorse a road map approved last week by a Turkish parliamentary commission, which urges legal reforms to run alongside the PKK’s disarmament, though details on implementation remain unclear.
DEM leaders, who have been closely involved in the peace process, said before reading Ocalan’s statement that it was time for the government to take concrete measures on issues including language and cultural and religious freedoms.
PKK steps and background
The PKK declared an end to its insurgency in May last year and its militants burned some weapons in a symbolic ceremony last July. It later announced its withdrawal from Turkey, and last week a militant source welcomed the parliamentary move but said there was still a lack of clarity.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 and is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. It initially sought an independent state but later moderated its goals to seeking autonomy and greater rights for Kurds.
What concrete measures do you want to see the Turkish government take on language and cultural and religious freedoms?
