Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;<ref name="US State Dept">Template:Cite book</ref> Template:IPA; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo<ref name="US State Dept" /><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).<ref name="DoS">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He helped found the PKK in 1978, and led it into the Kurdish–Turkish conflict in 1984. For most of his leadership, he was based in Syria, which provided sanctuary to the PKK until the late 1990s.

After being forced to leave Syria, Öcalan was abducted by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Nairobi, Kenya in February 1999 and imprisoned on İmralı island in Turkey,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> where after a trial he was sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed organizations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The sentence was commuted to aggravated life imprisonment when Turkey abolished the death penalty. From 1999 until 2009, he was the sole prisoner<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in İmralı prison in the Sea of Marmara, where he is still held.<ref>Marlies Casier, Joost Jongerden, Nationalisms and Politics in Turkey: Political Islam, Kemalism and the Kurdish Issue, Taylor & Francis, 2010, p. 146.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Öcalan has advocated for a political solution to the conflict since the 1993 Kurdistan Workers' Party ceasefire.<ref name=":0v">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="MKK">Mag. Katharina Kirchmayer, The Case of the Isolation Regime of Abdullah Öcalan: A Violation of European Human Rights Law and Standards?, GRIN Verlag, 2010, p. 37</ref> Öcalan's prison regime has oscillated between long periods of isolation during which he is allowed no contact with the outside world, and periods when he is permitted visits.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also involved in negotiations with the Turkish government that led to a temporary Kurdish–Turkish peace process in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2025, he issued a statement from prison calling on the PKK to disarm and disband itself, after which the group's leadership declared a unilateral ceasefire.

From prison, Öcalan has published several books. Jineology, also known as the science of women, is a form of feminism advocated by Öcalan<ref name="reuters-argentieri">Template:Cite news</ref> and subsequently a fundamental tenet of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).<ref name="opendemocracy">Template:Cite web</ref> Öcalan's philosophy of democratic confederalism is applied in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES),<ref name=":27">Template:Cite journal</ref> an autonomous polity formed in Syria in 2012.

Early life and education

Öcalan was born in Ömerli, a village in the Halfeti district of Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While some sources report his date of birth as 4 April 1949,<ref name="ANFNews"/> no official birth records exist. He has claimed not to know exactly when he was born, estimating the year to be 1946 or 1947.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is the oldest of seven children. Öcalan's father was poor even by local standards, and he once said that there was "always fighting" and "an overwhelming unhappiness" in his family.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He attended elementary school in a neighboring village and wanted to join the Turkish army. He applied to the military high school but failed in the admission exam.<ref name="Marcus17">Marcus, Aliza (2009), pp. 17–18</ref> In 1966 he began to study at a vocational high school in Ankara (Template:Langx)<ref name="Marcus17" /> and attended meetings of anti-communists but also of circles active in left-wing politics<ref name=":19">Template:Cite book</ref> interested in improving Kurdish rights.<ref name="Marcus17" /> He was also a very conservative Muslim in his youth and admired Necip Fazıl Kısakürek.<ref>Uğur Mumcu (Haziran 2020). Kürt Dosyası. SBF'de Şafak Bildirisi Dağıtılıyor. Uğur Mumcu Araştırmacı Gazetecilik Vakfı. p. 7. Template:ISBN</ref> After graduating in 1969, Öcalan began working at the Title Deeds Office of Diyarbakır. It was at this time his political affiliation began to reform.<ref name=":19" /> He was relocated one year later to Istanbul<ref name="Marcus17" /> where he participated in the meetings of the Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths (DDKO), a Kurdish organization.<ref>Marcus, Aliza (2009) p. 23</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Later, he entered the Istanbul Law Faculty but after the first year transferred to Ankara University to study political science.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

According to a book by journalist Necdet Pekmezci, Öcalan's return to Ankara was facilitated by the state in order to divide the Dev-Genç (Revolutionary Youth Federation of Turkey), of which Öcalan was a member. President Süleyman Demirel later regretted this decision, since the PKK was to become a much greater threat to the state than Dev-Genç.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Öcalan was not able to graduate from Ankara University,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as on 7 April 1972 he was arrested after participating in a rally against the killing of Mahir Çayan.<ref name=":19" /> He was charged with distributing the left-wing political magazine Şafak (published by Doğu Perinçek) and was held for seven months at the Mamak Prison.<ref name=":02">Template:Cite web</ref> In November 1973, the Ankara Democratic Association of Higher Education, (Ankara Demokratik Yüksek Öğrenim Demeği, Template:Interlanguage link) was founded and shortly after he was elected to join its board.<ref name=":24">Template:Cite journal</ref> In the ADYÖD several students close to the political views of Hikmet Kıvılcımlı were active.<ref name=":24" /> In December 1974, ADYÖD was closed down.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1975, together with Mazlum Doğan and Template:Interlanguage link, he published a political booklet which described the main aims for a Revolution in Kurdistan.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite book</ref> During meetings in Ankara between 1974 and 1975, Öcalan and others came to the conclusion that Kurdistan was a colony and preparations ought to be made for a revolution.<ref name=":11">Template:Cite book</ref> The group decided to disperse into the different towns in Turkish Kurdistan in order to set up a base of supporters for an armed revolution.<ref name=":11" /> At the beginning, this idea had only a few supporters, but following a journey Öcalan made through the cities of Ağrı, Batman, Diyarbakır, Bingöl, Kars and Urfa in 1977, the group counted over 300 adherents and had organised about thirty armed militants.<ref name=":11" />

The Kurdistan Workers' Party

In 1978, in the midst of the right- and left-wing conflicts which culminated in the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, Öcalan founded the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).<ref name="cnn-apology">Template:Cite news</ref> In July 1979 he fled to Syria.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Since its foundation, the party focused on ideological training.<ref name=":25">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1987, Öcalan saw the success of the party as based on the application of Marxism-Leninism to the specific conditions of Kurdistan.<ref name=":25" /> Öcalan elaborated on the importance of ideology to the extent to where he condemned ideologylessness and equated ideology with religion which according to him had replaced the latter.<ref name=":25" /> "If you break the link between yourself and ideology you will beastialize," he told his followers.<ref>Özcan, Ali Kemal (2005) p. 105</ref> With the support of the Syrian Government, he established two training camps for the PKK in Lebanon where the Kurdish guerrillas should receive political and military training.<ref name=":7" />

In 1984, the PKK initiated a campaign of armed conflict by attacking government forces<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="SECURITY">Template:Cite web Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="REPORT">Template:Cite web Template:Webarchive</ref> in order to create an independent Kurdish state. Öcalan attempted to unite the Kurdish liberation movements of the PKK and the one active against Saddam Hussein in Iraq. In negotiations between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PKK, it was agreed that the latter was able to move freely in Iraqi Kurdistan. He also met twice with Masoud Barzani, the leader of the KDP in Damascus, to resolve some minor issues they had once in 1984 and another time in 1985. But due to pressure from Turkey the cooperation remained timid.<ref name=":9">Template:Cite web</ref> During an interview he gave to the Turkish Milliyet in 1988, he mentioned the goal wasn't to gain independence from Turkey at all costs, but remained firm on the issue of the Kurdish rights, and suggested that negotiations should take place for a federation to be established in Turkey.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1988, he also met with Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Damascus, with which he signed an agreement and after some differences after the foundation of a Kurdish Government in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1992 he later had a better relationship.<ref name=":9" />

In the early 1990s, interviews given to both Doğu Perinçek and Hasan Bildirici he mentioned his willingness to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In another given to Oral Çalışlar, he emphasized the difference between independence and separatism. He articulated the view that different nations were able to live in independence within the same state if they had equal rights.<ref>Gunes, Cengiz (2013), pp. 127–128</ref> Then in 1993, upon request of Turkish president Turgut Özal, Öcalan met with Jalal Talabani for negotiations following which Öcalan declared a unilateral cease fire which had a duration from 20 March to 15 April.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="White-2000">Template:Cite book</ref> Later he prolonged it in order to enable negotiations with the Turkish government. Soon after Özal died on 17 April 1993,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> the initiative was halted by Turkey on the grounds that Turkey did not negotiate with terrorists.<ref name=":4" /> During an International Kurdish Conference in Brussels in March 1994, his initiative for equal rights for Kurds and Turks within Turkey was discussed.<ref name=":8">Stein, Gottfried (1994), p. 69</ref> It is reported by Gottfried Stein, that at least during the first half of the 1990s, he used to live mainly in a protected neighborhood in Damascus.<ref name=":8" /> On 7 May 1996, in the midst of another unilateral cease-fire declared by the PKK, an attempt to assassinate him in a house in Damascus, was unsuccessful.<ref>Gunes, Cengiz (2013), p. 134</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Following the protests which arose against the prohibition of the PKK in Germany, Öcalan had several meetings with politicians from Germany who came to hold talks with him.<ref name=":23">Template:Cite book</ref> In the summer of 1995 the president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) Klaus Grünewald came to visit him,<ref name=":23" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> And with the German MP Heinrich Lummer of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) he held meetings in October 1995 in Damascus and March 1996, during which they discussed the PKK's activities in Germany.<ref name=":23" /> Öcalan assured him that the PKK would support a peaceful solution for the conflict. Back in Germany, Lummer made a statement in support for further negotiations with Öcalan.<ref name=":12">Özcan, Ali Kemal (2006), p. 206</ref> With time, the United States (1997),<ref name="FTO"> Template:Cite web</ref> European Union, Syria, Turkey, and other countries have included the PKK on their lists of terrorist organizations.<ref name="TERROR">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="EU&S">Template:Cite web</ref> A Greek parliamentary delegation from the PASOK came to visit him in the Beqaa valley on 17 October 1996.<ref name=":23" /> During his stay in Syria he has published several books concerning the Kurdish revolution.<ref name=":8" /> On at least one occasion, in 1993, he was detained and held by Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, but later released.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Until 1998, Öcalan was based in Syria. As the situation deteriorated in Turkey, the Turkish government openly threatened Syria over its support for the PKK.<ref>Template:Cite journalTemplate:Dead link</ref> As a result, the Syrian government forced Öcalan to leave the country but still refused turning him over to the Turkish authorities. In October 1998, Öcalan prepared for his departure from Syria and during a meeting in Kobane, he unsuccessfully attempted to lay the foundations for a new party which failed due to Syrian intelligence's obstruction.<ref name=":13">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Exile in Europe

Öcalan left Syria on 9 October 1998 and for the next four months, he toured several European countries advocating for a solution of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict.<ref name=":16">Template:Cite web</ref> Öcalan first went to Russia where the Russian parliament voted on 4 November 1998 to grant him asylum.<ref name=":14">Template:Cite book</ref> On 6 November 109 Greek parliamentarians invited Öcalan to stay in Greece, a move which was repeated by Template:Interlanguage link,<ref name=":14" /> the deputy speaker of the Greek Parliament at the time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Öcalan then chose to travel to Italy, where he landed on 12 November 1998 at the airport in Rome.<ref name=":17">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1998 the Turkish government requested the extradition of Öcalan from Italy,<ref>Italian diplomacy tries to free herself from the tangle in which it is located, between Turks and Kurds, " internationalizing " the crisis:Template:Cite journal</ref> where he applied for political asylum upon his arrival. He was detained by the Italian authorities due to an arrest warrant issued by Germany.<ref name=":10">Template:Cite web</ref> But Italy did not extradite him to Germany, who refused to hold a trial on Öcalan in its country.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The German chancellor Gerhard Schröder as well as the Minister of the Interior Otto Schily preferred that Öcalan would be tried by an unspecified "European Court".<ref name=":17" /> Italy also didn't extradite him to Turkey.<ref name=":10" /> The Italian prime minister Massimo D'Alema announced it was contrary to Italian law to extradite someone to a country where the defendant is threatened with a capital punishment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> But Italy also didn't want Öcalan to stay, and pulled several diplomatic strings to compel him to leave the country,<ref name=":16" /> which was accomplished on 16 January<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> when he departed to Nizhny Novgorod in hope to find a safe haven in Russia.<ref name=":16" /> But in Russia he was not as much welcomed as in October, and he had to wait for a week at the airport of Strigino International Airport in Nizhny Novgorod.<ref name=":16" /> From Russia, he took an airplane from Saint Petersburg to Greece where he arrived in Athens upon the invitation of Nikolas Naxakis, a retired Admiral on 29 January 1999.<ref name=":16" /> He spent the night as a guest of the popular Greek author Voula Damianakou in Nea Makri.<ref name=":16" />

Following this, Öcalan attempted to travel to The Hague, to pursue a settlement of his legal situation at the International Criminal Court, but the Netherlands would not let his plane land and sent him back to Greece where he landed on the island Corfu in the Ionean Sea.<ref name=":16" /> Öcalan then decided to fly to Nairobi at the invitation of Greek diplomats.<ref name=":15">Template:Cite web</ref> At that time he was defended by Britta Böhler, a high-profile German attorney who argued that the crimes he was accused of would have to be proven in court and attempted to reach that the International Court in The Hague would assume the case.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Abduction, trial, and imprisonment

Öcalan was abducted in Kenya on 15 February 1999, while on his way from the Greek embassy to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, in an operation by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (Template:Langx , MIT) with the help of the CIA.<ref name="nytimes-capture">Template:Cite news</ref> According to the Turkish newspaper Vatan, the Americans transferred him to the Turkish authorities, who flew him back to Turkey for trial.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Following his capture, the Greek Government was in turmoil and Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, Interior Minister Alekos Papadopoulos and the Minister of Public Order Philipos Petsalnikos resigned from their posts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Costoulas, the Greek ambassador who protected him, said that his own life was in danger after the operation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to Nucan Derya, Öcalan's interpreter in Kenya, the Kenyans had warned the Greek ambassador that "something" might happen if he didn't leave four days prior and that they were given the assurance by Pangalos that Öcalan would have safe passage to Europe. Öcalan was determined to travel to Amsterdam and face the accusations of terrorism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Öcalan's capture led thousands of Kurds to hold worldwide protests condemning his capture at Greek and Israeli embassies. Kurds living in Germany were threatened with deportation if they continued to hold demonstrations in support of Öcalan. The warning came after three Kurds were killed and 16 injured during the 1999 attack on the Israeli consulate in Berlin.<ref name="PROTESTS">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="PROTESTS-ATHENS">Yannis Kontos, "Kurd Akar Sehard Azir, 33, sets himself on fire during a demonstration outside the Greek Parliament in Central Athens, Greece, on Monday, 15 February 1999" Template:Webarchive, Photostory, July 1999</ref> A group named the Revenge Hawks of Apo set fire to a department store in Kadıköy Istanbul, causing the death of 13 people.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In several European capitals and larger cities<ref>Gunter, Michael M. (2000), p. 851</ref> as well as in Iraq, Iran and also Turkey protests were organized against his capture.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Trial

File:Pkk supporters london april 2003.jpg

Öcalan supporters in London, April 2003

He was brought to İmralı island, where he was interrogated for a period of 10 days without being allowed to see or speak to his lawyers.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> A state security court consisting of one military and two civilian judges was established on İmralı island to try Öcalan.<ref name=":18">Template:Cite journal</ref> A delegation of three Dutch lawyers who intended to defend him were not allowed to meet with their client and detained for questioning at the airport on the grounds that they acted as "PKK militants" and not lawyers; they were sent back to the Netherlands.<ref name=":15" /> On the seventh day a judge took part in the interrogations, and prepared a transcript of it.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref> The trial began on 31 May 1999 on the İmralı island<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in the Sea of Marmara, and was organized by the Ankara State Security Court.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During the trial, he was represented by the Asrın Law Office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His lawyers had difficulty in representing him adequately as they were allowed only two interviews per week of initially a duration of 20 minutes, and later 1 hour, of which several were cancelled due to "bad weather" or because the authorities didn't give the permission needed for them.<ref name=":1" /> Also his lawyers were unaware of what the charges might be, and received the formal indictment only after excerpts of it were already presented to the press.<ref name=":6" /> The trial was accompanied by arrests of scores of Kurdish politicians from the People's Democracy Party (HADEP).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In mid-June 1999, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey approved the removal of military judges from the State Security Courts, in an attempt to address criticism from the European Court of Human Rights<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a civilian judge assumed the post of the military judge.<ref name=":18" /> Shortly before the verdict was read out by Judge Turgut Okyay, when asked about his final remarks, he again offered to play a role in the peace finding process.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> Öcalan was charged with treason and separatism and sentenced to death on 29 June 1999.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> He was also banned from holding public office for life.<ref name="bbcnews-verdict">Template:Cite news</ref>

On the same day, Amnesty International (AI) demanded a re-trial<ref name=":6" /> and Human Rights Watch (HRW) questioned the fact that witnesses brought by the defense were not heard in the trial.<ref name=":2" /> In 1999 the Turkish Parliament discussed a so-called Repentance Bill which would commute Öcalans death sentence to 20 years imprisonment and allow PKK militants to surrender with a limited amnesty, but it didn't pass due to resistance from the far-right around the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In January 2000 the Turkish government declared the death sentence was delayed until the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) reviewed the verdict.<ref name="cnn-excecutiondelay">Template:Cite news</ref> Upon the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey in August 2002,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in October of that year, the security court commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In an attempt to reach a verdict which was more favorable to Öcalan, he appealed at the ECHR at Strasbourg, which accepted the case in June 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2005, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated articles 3, 5, and 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights by refusing to allow Öcalan to appeal his arrest and by sentencing him to death without a fair trial.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Öcalan's request for a retrial was refused by Turkish courts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Detention conditions

File:PKK Verbot.jpg

Protest for freedom of Öcalan in Germany, 21 January 2016

After his capture, Öcalan was held in solitary confinement as the only prisoner on İmralı island in the Sea of Marmara. Following the commutation of the death sentence to a life sentence in 2002,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Öcalan remained imprisoned on İmralı, and was the sole inmate there. Although former prisoners at İmralı were transferred to other prisons, more than 1,000 Turkish military personnel were stationed on the island to guard him. In November 2009, Turkish authorities announced that they were ending his solitary confinement by transferring several other prisoners to İmralı.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They said that Öcalan would be allowed to see them for ten hours a week. The new prison was built after the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture visited the island and objected to the conditions in which he was being held.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 27 July 2011 until 2 May 2019 his lawyers have not been allowed to see Abdullah Öcalan.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> From July 2011 until December 2017 his lawyers filed more than 700 appeals for visits, but all were rejected.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

There have been held regular demonstrations by the Kurdish community to raise awareness of the isolation of Öcalan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2012 several hundred Kurdish political prisoners went on hunger strike for better detention conditions for Öcalan and the right to use the Kurdish language in education and jurisprudence. The hunger strike lasted 68 days until Öcalan demanded its end.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Öcalan was banned from receiving visits almost two years from 6 October 2014 until 11 September 2016, when his brother Mehmet Öcalan visited him for Eid al-Adha.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2014 the ECHR ruled in that there was a violation of article 3 in regards of him being to only prisoner on İmarli island until 17 November 2009, as well as the impossibility to appeal his verdict.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 6 September 2018 visits from lawyers were banned for six months due to former punishments he received in the years 2005–2009, the fact that the lawyers made their conversations with Ocalan public, and the impression that Öcalan was leading the PKK through communications with his lawyers.<ref name=":3" /> He was again banned from receiving visits until 12 January 2019 when his brother was permitted to visit him a second time. His brother said his health was good.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The ban on the visitation of his lawyers was lifted in April 2019, and Öcalan saw his lawyers on 2 May 2019.<ref name=":3" />

On 27 February 2025, Öcalan issued a message from prison calling for the PKK to hold a congress dissolving itself and lay down its weapons.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In response, the PKK announced that it had begun a ceasefire on 1 March.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Legal prosecution of sympathizers of Abdullah Öcalan

In 2008, the Justice Minister of Turkey, Mehmet Ali Şahin, said that between 2006 and 2007, 949 people were convicted and more than 7,000 people prosecuted for calling Öcalan "esteemed" (Sayın).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Kurdish people

Involvement in peace initiatives

Template:Turkey–PKK peace process In November 1998, Öcalan elaborated on a 7-point peace plan according to which the Turkish attacks on Kurdish villages should stop, the refugees would be allowed to return, the Kurdish people would be granted autonomy within Turkey, the Kurds would receive the equal democratic rights as the Turks and the Turkish government supported village guards system shall come to an end and the Kurdish language and culture was to be officially recognized.<ref name="PLAN">Abdullah Öcalan proposes 7-point peace plan Template:Webarchive Kurdistan Informatie Centrum Nederland</ref> In January 1999 during his stay in Europe, Öcalan saw the parties liberation struggle focus to have developed from guerrilla warfare to dialogue and negotiations.<ref name="DIPLOMACY">Interview with Abdullah Ocalan "Our First Priority Is Diplomacy" Template:Webarchive Middle East Insight magazine, January 1999</ref> After his capture Öcalan called for a halt in PKK attacks, and advocated for a peaceful solution for the Kurdish conflict inside the borders of Turkey.<ref name="utopia2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="MYTH">Kurdistan Turkey: Abdullah Ocalan, The End of a Myth? The Middle East magazine, February 2000</ref><ref name="TEK">van Bruinessen, Martin. Turkey, Europe and the Kurds after the capture of Abdullah Öcalan 1999</ref>Template:Page needed In October 1999, eight PKK militants around the former European PKK spokesman Ali Sapan turned themselves in to Turkey on request of Öcalan.<ref name=":21">Template:Cite news</ref> Depending on their treatment, the other PKK militants would turn themselves in as well, his attorney announced.<ref name=":21" /> But the eight, as well as another group which surrendered a few weeks later in Istanbul, were imprisoned and the peace initiative was dismissed by the Turkish Government.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Öcalan called for the foundation of a "Truth and Justice Commission" by Kurdish institutions in order to investigate war crimes committed by both the PKK and Turkish security forces. A similar structure began functioning in May 2006.<ref name="CONFEDERALISM">Öldürülen imam ve 10 korucunun itibarı iade edildi Template:Webarchive, ANF News Agency, 30 May 2006.</ref> In March 2005, Öcalan issued the Declaration of Democratic confederalism in Kurdistan<ref name="KONFEDERALIZM">Template:Cite news</ref> calling for a border-free confederation between the Kurdish regions of Southeastern Turkey (called "Northern Kurdistan" by Kurds<ref name="KL">PKK Program (1995) Kurdish Library, 24 January 1995</ref>), Northeast Syria ("Western Kurdistan"), Northern Iraq ("South Kurdistan"), and Northwestern Iran ("East Kurdistan"). In this zone, three bodies of law would be implemented: EU law, Turkish/Syrian/Iraqi/Iranian law and Kurdish law. This proposal was adopted by the PKK programme following the "Refoundation Congress" in April 2005.<ref name="REFOUNDATION">PKK Yeniden İnşa Bildirgesi Template:Webarchive PKK web site, 20 April 2005</ref>

Öcalan had his lawyer Ibrahim Bilmez<ref name=LAWYER>Kurdish leader calls for cease-fire Template:Webarchive NewsFlash</ref> release a statement on 28 September 2006 calling on the PKK to declare a ceasefire and seek peace with Turkey. Öcalan's statement said, "The PKK should not use weapons unless it is attacked with the aim of annihilation," and "it is very important to build a democratic union between Turks and Kurds. With this process, the way to democratic dialogue will be also opened".<ref name=CEASE>Kurdish rebel boss in truce plea, BBC News</ref> He worked on a solution for the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, which would include a decentralization and democratization of Turkey within the frame of the European Charter of local Self-Government, which was also signed by Turkey, but his 160-page proposal on the subject was confiscated by the Turkish authorities in August 2009.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

On 31 May 2010, Öcalan said he was abandoning the ongoing dialogue with Turkey, as "this process is no longer meaningful or useful". Öcalan stated that Turkey had ignored his three protocols for negotiation: (a) his terms of health and security, (b) his release, and (c) a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. Though the Turkish government had received Öcalan's protocols, they were never released to the public. Öcalan said he would leave the top PKK commanders in charge of the conflict, but that this should not be misinterpreted as a call for the PKK to intensify its armed conflict with Turkey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In January 2013, peace negotiations between the PKK and the Turkish Government were initiated and from between January<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and March he met several times with politicians of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) on Imralı Island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 21 March, Öcalan declared a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state. Öcalan's statement was read to hundreds of thousands of Kurds in Diyarbakır who had gathered to celebrate the Kurdish New Year (Newroz). The statement said in part, "Let guns be silenced and politics dominate... a new door is being opened from the process of armed conflict to democratization and democratic politics. It's not the end. It's the start of a new era."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Soon after Öcalan's declaration, the functional head of the PKK, Murat Karayılan responded by promising to implement a ceasefire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During the peace process, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) entered parliament during the parliamentarian election of June 2015.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The ceasefire ended after in July 2015 two Turkish police officers were killed in Ceylanpinar.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political ideological shift

Since his incarceration, Öcalan has significantly changed his ideology through exposure to Western social theorists such as Murray Bookchin, Immanuel Wallerstein and Hannah Arendt.<ref name=":27" /> Abandoning his old Marxism-Leninist<ref name=":27" /> and Stalinist beliefs,<ref name="utopia2"/><ref name="utopia-ecologic-social">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="biehl dialectics" /> Öcalan fashioned his ideal society called democratic confederalism.<ref name="biehl dialectics">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":27" /> In early 2004, Öcalan attempted to arrange a meeting with Murray Bookchin through Öcalan's lawyers, describing himself as Bookchin's "student" eager to adapt Bookchin's thought to Middle Eastern society. Bookchin was too ill to meet with Öcalan.<ref name="biehl dialectics" />

Democratic confederalism

Template:Main Democratic confederalism is a "system of popularly elected administrative councils, allowing local communities to exercise autonomous control over their assets, while linking to other communities via a network of confederal councils."<ref name=":0">Paul White, "Democratic Confederalism and the PKK's Feminist Transformation," in The PKK: Coming Down from the Mountains (London: Zed Books, 2015), pp. 126–149.</ref> Decisions are made by communes in each neighborhood, village, or city. All are welcome to partake in the communal councils, but political participation is not mandated. There is no private property, but rather "ownership by use, which grants individuals usage rights to the buildings, land, and infrastructure, but not the right to sell and buy on the market or convert them to private enterprises".<ref name=":0" /> The economy is in the hands of the communal councils, and is thus (in the words of Bookchin) 'neither collectivised nor privatised - it is common.'<ref name=":0" /> Feminism, ecology, and direct democracy are essential in democratic confederalism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

With his 2005 "Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan", Öcalan advocated for a Kurdish implementation of Bookchin's The Ecology of Freedom via municipal assemblies as a democratic confederation of Kurdish communities beyond the state borders of Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. Öcalan promoted a platform of shared values: environmentalism, self-defense, gender equality, and a pluralistic tolerance for religion, politics, and culture. While some of his followers questioned Öcalan's conversion from Marxism-Leninism to social ecology, the PKK adopted Öcalan's proposal and began to form assemblies.<ref name="utopia2"/> It became also the ideology of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and is applied in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).<ref name=":27" />

On women's rights

Öcalan is a supporter of the liberation of the women, he writes in his Freedom Manifesto for Women that all slavery is based on the housewifization of women.<ref name=":26">Template:Cite book</ref> He deems the woman often as being trapped in a situation where she accepts traditional gender roles and a disadvantaged relationship with a man.<ref name=":26" />

Personal life

According to his own account, while his father is Kurdish, his mother is Turkmen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to some sources, Öcalan's grandmother was an ethnic Turk.<ref>Blood and Belief: The Pkk and the Kurdish Fight for Independence, by Aliza Marcus, p. 15, 2007</ref><ref>Perceptions: journal of international affairs – Vol. 4, no. 1, SAM (Center), 1999, p. 142</ref> Öcalan's mother, Esma Öcalan (Uveys)<ref name=":22">Template:Cite book</ref> was rather dominant and criticised his father, blaming him for their dire economic situation. He later explained in an interview that it was in his childhood he learned to defend himself from injustice.<ref name="BandB">Template:Cite book</ref> Like many Kurds in Turkey, Öcalan was raised speaking Turkish; according to Amikam Nachmani, lecturer at the Bar-Ilan University in Israel, Öcalan did not know Kurdish when he met him in 1991. Nachmani: "He [Öcalan] told me that he speaks Turkish, gives orders in Turkish, and thinks in Turkish."<ref>Turkey: Facing a New Millennium: Coping With Intertwined Conflicts, Amikam Nachmani, p. 210, 2003</ref> In 1978 Öcalan married Kesire Yildirim, who he had met at the Ankara University<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and was of a better household than the regular revolutionaries around Öcalan.<ref name=":20">Marcus, Aliza (2012) p. 43</ref> They had a difficult marriage with reportedly many disputes and discussions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1988, while representing the PKK in Athens, Greece, his wife unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Öcalan, following which Yildirim went underground.<ref name=":20" />

After his sister Havva was married to a man from another village in an arranged marriage, he felt regret. This event led Öcalan to his policies towards the liberation of women from the traditional suppressed female role.<ref name="BandB" /> Öcalan's brother Osman became a PKK commander until he defected from the PKK with several others to establish the Patriotic and Democratic Party of Kurdistan.<ref name="CK">Template:Cite journal</ref> His other brother, Mehmet Öcalan, is a member of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).<ref>"BDP wants autonomy for Kurds in new Constitution", Hürriyet Daily News, 4 September 2011</ref> Fatma Öcalan is the sister of Abdullah Öcalan<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Dilek Öcalan, a former parliamentarian of the HDP, is his niece.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> Ömer Öcalan, a current member of parliament for the HDP, is his nephew.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Honorary citizenships

Several localities have awarded him with an honorary citizenship:Template:Div col

Publications

Template:Commons category Öcalan is the author of more than 40 books, four of which were written in prison. Many of the notes taken from his weekly meetings with his lawyers have been edited and published. He has also written articles for the newspaper Özgür Gündem which is a newspaper that reported on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, under the pseudonym of Ali Firat.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Books

• Interviews and Speeches. London: Kurdistan Solidarity Committee; Kurdistan Information Centre, 1991. 46 p.
• Template:Cite web
• Prison Writings: The Roots of Civilisation. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto, 2007. Template:ISBN.
• Prison Writings Volume II: The PKK and the Kurdish Question in the 21st Century. London: Transmedia, 2011. Template:ISBN.
• Democratic Confederalism. London: Transmedia, 2011. Template:ISBN.
• Prison Writings III: The Road Map to Negotiations. Cologne: International Initiative, 2012. Template:ISBN.
• Liberating life: Women's Revolution. Cologne, Germany: International Initiative Edition, 2013. Template:ISBN.
• Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization, Volume 1. Porsgrunn, Norway: New Compass, 2015. Template:ISBN.
• Defending a Civilisation.Template:When
• The Political Thought of Abdullah Öcalan. London: Pluto Press, 2017. Template:ISBN.
• Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization, Volume 2. Porsgrunn, Norway: New Compass, 2017. Template:ISBN

See also

• Kurdistan Free Life Party
• Yalçın Küçük
• Rojava
• PKK
• Kurdistan

Further reading

• Kaminaris, Spiros Ch. (June 1999). "Greece and the Middle East". Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 3, No. 2.
• Özcan, Ali Kemal (2005). Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan. London & New York: Routledge. Template:ISBN.
• Parkinson, Joe, and Ayla Albayrak (15 March 2013). "Kurd Locked in Solitary Cell Holds Key to Turkish Peace". The Wall Street Journal (archived copy).

External links

• Books by Abdullah Öcalan
• "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan – Peace in Kurdistan" International Initiative
• Special report: The Ocalan file, BBC News, 26 November 1999.