Even though the parties in power have changed since the foundation of the Republic, the approach to the Kurdish issue has not changed. The issue has deepened due to the policies of rejection and denial. Many parties have disappeared due to the lack of a solution to the issue. The political, social and economic crises in the country have never ended due to the lack of a solution. This situation has not changed under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which has ruled the country since November 3, 2002. The AKP, which came to power on rhetoric about democracy and human rights, occasionally made promises about the solution of the Kurdish issue, but then always resorted to denial. 

 

'IF YOU SAY THERE IS NO İSSUE, IT DISAPPEARS'

 

After coming to power, the AKP ended the State of Emergency (OHAL) in Kurdistan on November 30, 2002. On December 22, 2002, AKP Chair and President Tayyip Erdoğan visited the construction site of the Turkish Trade Center in Moscow, the capital of Russia, and signaled his perspective on the Kurdish issue. Erdoğan responded to Kurdish workers at the construction site saying “The Kurdish issue must be solved” by saying, “If you say there is no issue, the issue disappears. We say there is no such issue.” 

 

During his visit to Amed (Diyarnakır) in the third year of his party's rule, Erdoğan declared that “The Kurdish issue is also my issue”. However, despite these words, no steps were taken for a solution. Immediately afterwards, 14 HPG fighters were killed by chemical weapons on March 24, 2006 in the countryside of Şenê (Şenyayla) Plateau in Mûş. 

 

On March 28th of the same year, Erdoğan, who was the prime minister at the time, made a statement about the police violence against social protests, “Whether it is a woman, a child or an elderly person, the necessary will be done”. 

 

Likewise, following Erdoğan's remarks, a police attack took place in Amed against the funeral ceremony of 6 HPG fighters. Protests spread to many cities and 13 people, including children, were killed. Hundreds of people were injured.  

 

OSLO PROCESS

 

Unable to get results from the politics of war, the AKP initiated talks with PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in 2008 through National Security Organization (MİT). In 2008, the process started in İmralı between MİT Undersecretary Emre Taner and Abdullah Öcalan, and continued with a series of meetings known as the “Oslo Process” between Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) executives and state officials in Oslo, the capital of Norway, which was the coordinating country. 

  

Erdoğan came to Amed once again before the 2009 local elections. This time Erdoğan said: “Call it the Kurdish issue, call it the Southeastern issue, call it the Eastern issue, or let's call it the Kurdish opening. Whatever we call it, we have started to work on it.” 

 

During his visit to Tehran on March 11, 2009, President Abdullah Gül also said: “Good things will happen” on the Kurdish issue. “Whether you call it terrorism, the Southeast or the Kurdish issue, this is Turkey's most important issue and it must be resolved,” Gül said on his return visit to Prague on May 9. The statements began to emphasize the idea that the Kurdish issue could be resolved through democratic negotiations. 

 

Abdullah Öcalan evaluated Gül's statements in his talks with his lawyers in 2009 and said: “Mr. Gül's statements are important. Especially when we look at the history of Turkish-Kurdish relations, they can have consequences that can play a historical role. I will fulfill my responsibility in this regard. They don't need to be afraid. If these two peoples, the Kurdish and Turkish people, do not fight each other, no one can do anything to us. If we solve this issue as two peoples, Turkey's path will be paved and Turkey will become the leading country in the Middle East.” 

  

PEACE GROUP MEMBERS ARRESTED

 

With the call of Abdullah Öcalan, the Peace Group consisting of 34 people including 4 children from Qendîl and Mexmûr entered the Habur Border Gate in Silopi district of Şirnex (Şırnak-Kurdistan) on October 19, 2009. Tens of thousands of people welcomed the Peace Group. The government backed down in the face of the rhetoric of racist and nationalist groups. Therefore the arrival of the second group from Europe was canceled. Shortly afterwards, 30 people from the first group were indicted, resulting in the arrest of 17 of them.

 

KCK OPERATIONS

 

The Constitutional Court (AYM) ordered the closure of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on December 11, 2009. Kurdish politicians Ahmet Türk and Aysel Tuğluk were stripped of their parliamentary seats. On December 25, operations against Kurdish politicians under the name of “KCK operations” were launched. Thousands of people, including politicians, journalists, lawyers, intellectuals and writers, were detained and arrested.  

 

HUNGER STRIKES

 

The government, which has once again embraced security policies, has deepened the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı Type F High Security Closed Prison. Abdullah Öcalan has not been allowed to meet with his lawyers since July 27, 2011. PKK and PAJK prisoners went on hunger strike on September 12, 2012 against the deepening of the isolation in İmralı and the lack of comminucation. As a result of this strike, which lasted 68 days with the participation of thousands of people, the İmralı gate was opened.  

 

Abdullah Öcalan, who met with his brother Mehmet Öcalan, stated that the hunger strike had reached its goal and called for an end to it. During this process, Tayyip Erdoğan announced in a television program that they were in talks with Abdullah Öcalan. Subsequently, Ahmet Türk, then co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), and Ayla Akat, MP from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Istanbul, went to İmralı Island on January 3, 2013 and met with Abdullah Öcalan. 

 

DOLMABAHÇE AGREEMENT 

 

“I have been working for peace for 20 years,” Abdullah Öcalan said in this meeting. The talks continued until April 5, 2015. This was also the beginning of the so-called “Resolution Process”. As the atmosphere for a democratic solution was created, a declaration titled “farewell to weapons” was read out at the Amed Newroz on March 21, 2013. Abdullah Öcalan called for “Let the guns fall silent and let ideas and politics speak”. 

 

The Dolmabahçe Agreement was announced on February 28, 2015 as part of the dialogue process that lasted for nearly 2 years. Following the announcement of the memorandum, which included articles on a democratic and constitutional solution to the Kurdish question, concrete steps were expected to be taken towards a solution. However, Erdoğan denied the agreement. 

 

ATTACKS

 

With Erdoğan's statement, the talks that began on January 3, 2013 were terminated on April 5, 2015. With the breakdown of the talks, the AKP returned to its old codes. In this process, bombs started to explode in many cities. In the run-up to the June 7, 2015 elections, bomb attacks were carried out against the Mersin and Adana offices of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Again on June 5, 2015, the party's rally in Amed was attacked with a bomb. 

 

After the June 7 elections, the AKP failed to achieve the desired result and decided to hold new elections. On November 1, the elections were renewed. Prior to this, a massacre took place in the Pirsûs (Suruç) district of Riha (Urfa) on July 20, 2015, killing 33 young people. On July 24, 2015, the AKP bombed the Federated Kurdistan Region with warplanes, citing the death of two policemen in Serêkaniyê (Ceylanpınar) on July 22. While those arrested in the incident to end the process were acquitted, the incident was not clarified. 

 

PLAN TO COLLAPSE 

 

At the National Security Council (MGK) meeting on October 30, 2014, it was revealed that the AKP had decided on a 10-point “Collapse Plan” against the Kurds. As part of this plan, many HDP MPs were arrested after their immunity was lifted. Trustees were appointed to municipalities run by the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and co-mayors were arrested. Curfews were declared in many cities of Kurdistan. Hundreds were massacred and tens of thousands were forced to migrate. 

 

MESSAGE OF ABDULLAH ÖCALAN

 

After the end of the process, the state of emergency was once again imposed in the cities of Kurdistan. With the 2017 referendum and the transition to the “Presidential Government System”, the environment of repression became more pronounced. Imrali isolation was deepened even more. In the absence of any news from Abdullah Öcalan, whose family and lawyer visits were prevented, a hunger strike led by DTK Co-Chair Leyla Güven was launched on November 8, 2018. The action spread to all prisons. After 8 years of public pressure, lawyer visits were organized 5 times in 2019 on İmralı Island. Maintaining his stance on peace and solution, Abdullah Öcalan underlined the need for a deep social consensus and democratic negotiations for the solution of the issues and sent the following message to the public in his lawyer interview on May 2, 2019: “Our stance in İmralı is determined to continue the way of expression that we stated in the 2013 Newroz Declaration by deepening and clarifying it. For us, an honorable peace and democratic political solution is essential.”

 

In his last meeting with his lawyers on August 7, 2019, Abdullah Öcalan stated that he was ready for a solution and said: “I am trying to make room for the Kurds, let's solve the Kurdish issue. I say I can eliminate the possibility of conflict in a week. I can solve it, I trust myself, I am ready for a solution. However, the state and the state mind should do what is necessary.”

 

INTERRUPTED PHONE CALL 

 

After this date, absolute isolation was imposed in İmralı. Abdullah Öcalan held an interrupted phone call with his brother Mehmet Öcalan on March 25, 2021, in response to growing public concerns. Abdullah Öcalan reacted to the way this meeting was conducted and the fact that he was not allowed to meet with his lawyers, and warned: “How will this issue be in the future? This issue can only be solved by law. If there is to be a meeting, it must be with lawyers. Because this situation is both political and legal.”

 

On October 10, 2023, a worldwide campaign was launched for the lifting of the absolute isolation in İmralı, the physical freedom of Abdullah Öcalan and the democratic solution of the Kurdish issue. In this context, various actions and events were organized in many centers of the world, especially in the cities of Kurdistan, with the participation of millions of people. World-renowned names and Nobel laureates also participated in this campaign. 

 

As the campaign continued, on October 2, Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli made a remarkable statement. Bahçeli went to the desks of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and shook hands with Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan and MPs. 

 

In his speech at the group meeting on October 22, Bahçeli acknowledged the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan and stipulated the “liquidation of the organization” as a condition for the “right to hope” that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe had said “take the necessary measures”. 

 

MEETING AFTER 43 MONTHS

 

Abdullah Öcalan met with his nephew Ömer Öcalan on October 23 after 43 months of isolation in İmralı Island. Ömer Öcalan posted on his X media account about the meeting and said that Abdullah Öcalan said: “Isolation continues. If the conditions are created, I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from the grounds of conflict and violence to the legal and political grounds.”

 

Bahçeli's statements were also supported by Erdoğan. In a group meeting on October 30, AKP Chair and President Erdoğan defended Bahçeli's statements and said: “Our main interlocutor is our Kurdish brothers and sisters themselves.” 

 

ATTACKS AND TRUSTEE 

 

However, at a time when these discussions were taking place, the Federated Kurdistan Region and the cities of Northern and Eastern Syria were targeted again. Immediately afterwards, Ahmet Özer, the mayor of Esenyurt, who was elected in the March 31 local elections with the “Urban Consensus”, was arrested. A trustee was appointed in his place yesterday. 

 

MA / Delal Akyüz