A delegation from a Turkish opposition party made its way to Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region on Sunday, coinciding with ongoing peace initiatives between Ankara and a banned Kurdish separatist group operating in Turkey.
The visiting group, which included prominent figures Sirri Sureyya Onder and Pervin Buldan from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), held discussions with Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the principal Kurdish political entity in Iraq, in Irbil.
According to a statement from Barzani’s office, the dialogue centered around “the peace process in Turkey.” The Turkish delegation delivered a message from Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned head of Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Barzani emphasized the importance of collective efforts to ensure the peace initiative yields satisfactory outcomes and expressed his readiness to provide support to enhance the likelihood of success for these peace efforts.
The DEM party has consistently advocated for increased democratic practices within Turkey and the improvement of rights for the Kurdish population, alongside better conditions for Ocalan, who established the PKK in 1978. The PKK initiated an armed rebellion for an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey’s southeast beginning in 1984, leading to significant loss of life. Turkey and its Western allies classify the group as a terrorist organization. In response to ongoing troubles, the Iraqi central government in Baghdad banned the group last year after it maintained bases in northern Iraq.
Ocalan, who is now 75 years old, has been serving a life sentence on Imrali Island in the Marmara Sea after being captured in 1999 and convicted of treason. Historically, the government under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had a contentious relationship with the left-wing DEM party, regularly removing its elected officials on grounds of alleged connections to the PKK and replacing them with government-appointed personnel.
However, there has been a shift since last October, when Erdogan’s far-right nationalist coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli, suggested the possibility of Ocalan receiving parole, contingent on the PKK renouncing violence and disbanding. This budding peace dialogue emerges as Erdogan may seek support from the DEM party in Parliament to facilitate the adoption of a new constitution that could enable him to extend his time in power without limitations.
As it stands under the existing constitution, Erdogan, who has held power since 2003 as either prime minister or president, cannot run for office again unless an early election is prompted—with such a move requiring backing from the pro-Kurdish party.
Simultaneously, while these peace discussions are in progress, the Erdogan administration has expanded its crackdown on opposition figures, leading to the arrest of several journalists and politicians. Recently, numerous elected Kurdish mayors were stripped of their roles and replaced by state appointees. The removal of the mayor of Van in eastern Turkey served as a recent example of this trend.
In the backdrop, tensions persist between Turkey-backed armed factions and Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. Turkey perceives the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-supported Kurdish military alliance, as a continuation of the PKK. The SDF is currently in discussions with the new administration in Damascus in the wake of the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad.
While many former insurgent factions have consented to dissolve and merge into a unified Syrian army, the SDF has so far declined to do so. On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced that the government would review its military engagement in northeastern Syria should the newly established leadership eliminate any PKK presence in that region. Concurrently, masses of Kurds in northeastern Syria demonstrated to demand the release of Ocalan.
