Editing Abdullah Öcalan (section)

== Personal life ==
According to his own account, while his father is Kurdish, his mother is Turkmen.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pişmanım, asmayın|url=https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/pismanim-asmayin-39064585|access-date=24 November 2020|website=www.hurriyet.com.tr|date=23 February 1999 |language=tr}}</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">{{Cite book|last1=Cigerli|first1=Sabri|title=Ocalan et le PKK: Les mutations de la question kurde en Turquie et au moyen-orient|last2=Saout|first2=Didier Le|date=2005|publisher=Maisonneuve et Larose|isbn=978-2-7068-1885-1|page=187|language=fr}}</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">{{cite book|last=Marcus|first=Aliza|title=Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence|year= 2009|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-9587-3|pages=16–17|language=en}}</ref> Like many [[Kurds in Turkey]], Öcalan was raised speaking [[Turkish language|Turkish]]; according to Amikam Nachmani, lecturer at the [[Bar-Ilan University]] in Israel, Öcalan did not know [[Kurdish language|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>{{Cite book|last=Marcus|first=Aliza|title=Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence|publisher=NYU Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-8147-5956-1|pages=42|language=en}}</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>{{Cite book|last=Marcus|first=Aliza|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlITCgAAQBAJ|title=Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence|publisher=[[NYU Press]]|year=2012|isbn=978-0-8147-5956-1|pages=42|language=en}}</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 Ocalan|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">{{cite journal|last=Kutschera|first=Chris|date=July 2005|title=PKK dissidents accuse Abdullah Ocalan|url=http://www.chris-kutschera.com/A/pkk_dissidents.htm|url-status=dead|journal=The Middle East Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207012503/http://www.chris-kutschera.com/A/pkk_dissidents.htm|archive-date=7 February 2009|access-date=22 December 2008}}</ref> His other brother, Mehmet Öcalan, is a member of the pro-Kurdish [[Peace and Democracy Party]] (BDP).<ref>[https://archive.today/20120701122531/http://archive.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=bdp-wants-autonomy-for-kurds-in-new-constitution-2011-09-04 "BDP wants autonomy for Kurds in new Constitution"], ''[[Hürriyet Daily News]]'', 4 September 2011</ref> Fatma Öcalan is the sister of Abdullah Öcalan<ref>{{cite web|title=Travel ban for the sister and brother of Öcalan|url=https://anfenglish.com/news/travel-ban-for-the-sister-and-brother-of-Oecalan-33133|access-date=6 April 2020|website=ANF News|language=en}}</ref> and [[Dilek Öcalan]], a former parliamentarian of the [[Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey)|HDP]], is his niece.<ref>{{cite web|date=1 March 2018|title=HDP MP Dilek Öcalan Sentenced to 2 Years, 6 Months in Prison|url=https://m.bianet.org/english/politics/194777-hdp-mp-dilek-ocalan-sentenced-to-2-years-6-months-in-prison|website=Bianet}}{{Dead link|date=June 2020|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> [[Ömer Öcalan]], a current member of parliament for the HDP, is his nephew.<ref>{{cite web|title=HDP Urfa candidate, Öcalan: We are a house for all peoples|url=https://anfenglish.com/news/hdp-urfa-candidate-Oecalan-we-are-a-house-for-all-peoples-27302|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301070341/https://anfenglish.com/news/hdp-urfa-candidate-Oecalan-we-are-a-house-for-all-peoples-27302|archive-date=1 March 2020|access-date=14 January 2019|website=ANF News|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Different identities enter Parliament with the HDP|url=https://anfenglish.com/features/different-identies-enter-parliament-with-the-hdp-27719|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301070342/https://anfenglish.com/features/different-identies-enter-parliament-with-the-hdp-27719|archive-date=1 March 2020|access-date=14 January 2019|website=ANF News|language=en}}</ref>