Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan 'ready to work with Turkey for peace'

Visit by pro-Kurdish party members suggests signs of easing tension between Turkish government and PKK

Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan in September 1993. AFP

The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, said on Sunday he is "ready to make a call" to back a new initiative by the Turkish government to end decades of conflict, Turkey's pro-Kurdish party confirmed.

Two politician's from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) party made a rare visit to Ocalan on Saturday on his prison island, the first by the party in almost a decade, amid signs of easing tension between the Turkish government and the PKK.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government approved DEM's request on Friday to visit the founder of the PKK, which is designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its western allies.

Ocalan has been serving a life sentence on the island of Imrali, south of Istanbul, since 1999.

The government's approval of the visit comes two months after the head of Turkey's nationalist MHP party, Devlet Bahceli, extended Ocalan an olive branch, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his group, in a move backed by Mr Erdogan.

"I have the competence and determination to make a positive contribution to the new paradigm started by Mr Bahceli and Mr Erdogan," Ocalan said, according to a DEM statement on Sunday.

He said the visiting delegation would share his approach with the state and political circles. "In light of this, I am ready to take the necessary positive steps and make the call."

DEM party co-chairman Tuncer Bakirhan praised Ocalan's appeal as a "historic opportunity to build a common future", in a message on social media platform X.

"We are on the eve of a potential democratic transformation across Turkey and the region. Now is the time for courage and foresight for an honourable peace," Mr Bakirhan said.

The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, claiming tens of thousands of lives. A peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed in 2015, unleashing violence especially in the Kurdish-majority south-east.

Kurds with pictures of Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan during a protest called by the Democratic Council of Kurdistan Communities in Belgium, in Brussels, on December 11. EPA

The initiative launched in October by Mr Bahceli, who has been hostile to the PKK, sparked a public debate, with Mr Erdogan hailing it as a "historic window of opportunity".

But a deadly terror attack in October on a Turkish defence company in the capital Ankara, for which PKK militants claimed responsibility, put those hopes on hold. Turkey launched strikes on Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria after the attack, which killed five people.

"Re-strengthening the Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility but also … an urgency for all peoples," Ocalan said, according to the DEM statement.

He said all the efforts would "take the country to the level it deserves" and become a "very valuable guide for a democratic transformation".

"It's time for peace, democracy and brotherhood in Turkey and the region."

PKK attacks Ankara security firm - in pictures

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  A heavily-armed suspect enters the Turkish Aerospace and Aviation Center headquearter in Ankara during a terror attack. EPA

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  Two people with guns and backpacks during an attack on the premises. AP

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  Smoke rises from the headquarters of Turkey's aviation company where three people were killed and five others wounded in an attack. Reuters

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  Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, centre, speaks to the media in the vicinity of the headquarters of the Turkish Aerospace Industries building. AFP

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  A taxi which was allegedly used by the attackers is removed from the site near the Turkish Aerospace Industries building, after an explosion in Kahramankazan. AFP

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  People gather outside Turkish Aerospace Industries Industries. AP

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  Emergency and security teams outside the Turkish state-run aerospace and defence company. AP

The new contact by both sides comes as Islamist rebels consolidate their control in neighbouring Syria after toppling its strongman president Bashar Al Assad.

Turkey hopes Syria's new leaders will address the issue of Kurdish forces in the country, which Ankara sees as a terror group affiliated to the PKK.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call on Saturday that Kurdish fighters "cannot be allowed to take shelter in Syria", the ministry spokesman said.

According to the DEM statement, Ocalan said developments in Syria had shown that outside interference would only complicate the problem, and a solution could no longer be postponed.