Erdogan reaches out to Kurds despite PKK attack, sees ‘historic opportunity’ to end conflict

“If God gives us the opportunity, we intend to … remove (the conflict with the Kurds) entirely from the national agenda,” declared Erdogan, adding it would be the “crowning achievement” of his political career.

Last week, Devlet Bahceli, who heads Turkey’s ultra-nationalist MHP party, extended a shock olive branch to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his outlawed group.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday extended full support for his nationalist ally’s appeal to Turkey’s Kurds, saying it opened a “window of opportunity”.

Erdogan’s remarks were the latest and clearest signal Ankara was seeking a rapprochement with the Kurds despite last week’s deadly attack on a Turkish defence firm that was claimed by PKK militants.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the attack on the headquarters of the state-owned TAI company that killed five and injured 22.

The day before, Devlet Bahceli, who heads Turkey’s ultra-nationalist MHP party, extended a shock olive branch to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, inviting him to parliament to renounce terror and disband his outlawed group.

The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers’ Party, has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey and is considered a terror organisation by Ankara and its Western allies.

Turkey routinely carries out strikes against Kurdish targets in northern Syria and Iraq.

Bahceli said Ocalan, the PKK’s founder who has been serving life without parole in solitary confinement since 1999, should be given the “right to hope”.

His remarks were widely understood to mean a possible early release.

Bahceli, who is close to Erdogan and has always been fiercely hostile to the PKK, spoke about brotherhood, saying: “Turks and Kurds must love each other, this is both a religious and a political obligation for both sides.”

Addressing lawmakers from his ruling AKP on Wednesday, Erdogan gave full backing to Bahceli, saying the Turkish people see “the window of historic opportunity that has opened before us, and are excited”.

“My dear Kurdish brothers, we expect you to firmly grasp (Bahceli’s) sincerely outstretched hand,” Erdogan said, urging them to join in efforts to build what he called the “century of Turkey”.

“If God gives us the opportunity, we intend to … remove (the conflict with the Kurds) entirely from the national agenda,” he remarked, saying it would be the “crowning achievement” of his political career.

But Erdogan said his appeal was not directed towards the “terror barons” in Iraq and Syria. In the aftermath of last week’s attack, Turkish warplanes bombed PKK targets in northern Iraq and Syria.

The Turkish leader said on Tuesday that Turkey will continue its military operations in northern Iraq and Syria against Kurdish PKK rebels so as to “eliminate” their threat.

“Until the establishment of a country and a region without terror, we will continue this combat in several dimensions,” the president insisted as he cited the ongoing operations.

A day after Bahceli’s initial remarks, Ocalan, who is being held on a Turkish prison island, was permitted his first family visit since March 2020.

Amid signs of a softening, the main pro-Kurdish DEM party on Wednesday said it had held talks with the justice ministry about easing Ocalan’s prison conditions.

“There was a meeting with the justice ministry about lifting the isolation,” party co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan told reporters after a faction meeting in parliament.

“Lifting the isolation would benefit all of us because Ocalan is expressing ideas … (that) will contribute to the groundwork for peace and democracy,” he said.

Regional context

For Hamit Bozarslan, a Paris-based specialist on the Kurdish question, Turkey’s shift in position is linked to the escalating conflicts in the Middle East.

“Part of the government would like to open a dialogue with the Kurdish movement, especially if the regional situation deteriorates and weakens Iran which would have a definite impact on Iraq and Syria,” he told AFP.

Both countries border Turkey and are home to large and powerful Kurdish minorities.

The PKK, which has waged an on-off insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has killed thousands, has long been designated a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies.

The PKK attack in Ankara does however raise questions about Ocalan’s power within the movement after more than 25 years behind bars.

For Bozarslan, “Ocalan remains the key player” who is capable of “exercising his influence” over any ongoing political process.

But for Yektan Turkyilmaz, an Austria-based academic, after years without any “organic contact” with the PKK leadership, it will be “a big challenge for Ocalan to impose a government-endorsed plan” on the diverse Kurdish movement.

“Ocalan is not only in the most difficult position in his entire career, but he’s also taking a big, big risk because he has never managed to convince his own supporters of accepting a peaceful political solution” to the conflict, he said.

“And the same could be said about the government,” he added.

Observers say the government’s move to reach out to the Kurds is directly linked to its fears of conflict spreading because of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and its assault on Lebanon.

Turkyilmaz said Ankara’s overtures to the Kurds were a bid to “reinforce” the domestic front in order to face up to the regional challenge posed by Israel.

But above all, it was looking for an “opportunity” to ease pressure along its border with Syria, an ally of Iran, he said.

After Israeli warplanes struck Iran early on Saturday, Turkey called for an end to what it said was Israel’s “terror” which had brought the region to “the brink of a greater war”.