15th February – the anniversary of Abdullah Öcalan’s abduction and imprisonment – is always an important time for the Kurdish Freedom Movement. It is marked by a mass demonstration, which is usually – as this coming Saturday – in Strasbourg. But this year, the anniversary is being anticipated with more than the usual interest. This year, following visits to Öcalan, first by his nephew and then twice by leading figures in the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, we have been told to expect a message from Öcalan himself – probably a video message before the end of the month.
Of course, this depends on the Turkish government, which is playing a hard game. At the same time as enabling these first visits to İmralı Prison in over four years, Turkey has been increasing their oppression against Kurds within the country and their aggression against Kurds beyond Turkey’s borders. A message from Öcalan will be a historic moment, but whether it can lead to peace will depend on the next moves by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government. That, in turn, will depend on how Erdoğan perceives his personal interest, and whether he is ready to stop playing the anti-Kurdish “race” card and let Turkey benefit instead from unity and peace.
Öcalan has been ready for peace since the 1980s, through many different Turkish governments. No Kurds can forget his message read out to the Newroz gathering in Diyarbakir in 2013, when it seemed that the Kurdish struggle would at last move onto a new political path – nor the betrayal of Erdoğan’s about turn in 2015, when he claimed no knowledge of the roadmap agreed at Dolmabahce Palace, and replaced peace talks with a policy of violent annihilation. This cannot be allowed to happen again. This time Kurds want the involvement and investment of all political parties and civil society organisations in any peace process that may follow these initial talks – not just the government.
The Turkish Government chooses to forget that the PKK only took up arms because Turkey took away Kurdish rights and blocked all peaceful routes for Kurds to campaign for their freedoms. If the government wants to see the PKK put down their arms and move to a new political way of being, then they need to address the oppressions that made them take up arms in the first place. They need to address Kurdish rights, and they need to address Turkey’s democracy, so as to make political action possible.
Öcalan is recognised as their leader by millions of Kurds, and the Turkish Government knows that if they are willing to engage, he holds the key to a peaceful future. The first step towards that future is to end his illegal isolation and enable him to talk freely and privately with all those involved in negotiations, from politicians to guerrillas.
15 February, the day of Öcalan’s capture, is known as Black Day (Roja Reş). This year everyone is hoping that the chink of light that has been allowed to find its way into İmralı Prison will be the first sigh of an end to that darkness. We have seen so many actions with titles such as “the time has come”, and perhaps this time that will be true. But we know that, whatever happens in these coming days, we will need to campaign even harder if we want to see real peace.