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The Kurdish leader, detained since 1999, calls for the disarmament of the Pkk in a historic message marking a change in the conflict with Turkey

After 26 years of imprisonment, Abdullah Ocalan, the historic leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has officially declared an end to armed warfare, a step that marks an important turning point in his long battle for Kurdish rights. In a statement read out in Istanbul, Ocalan called on the PKK and all armed groups to lay down their weapons and disband, proposing to move the Kurdish issue ‘from the terrain of violence to that of politics’. This appeal, which comes after a long period of dialogue with the Turkish authorities, marks the end of an era of armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Ocalan’s story: from Pkk founder to life imprisonment

Abdullah Ocalan, born in 1949 in a village in south-east Turkey, founded the Pkk in 1978 with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state. After spending years in exile, mainly in Syria, he chose armed struggle in 1984, starting a bloody conflict with Turkey. Arrested in 1999 in Kenya by the Turkish secret service, Ocalan was sentenced to death for treason and terrorism, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the abolition of the death penalty. Despite his imprisonment, he continued to influence Kurdish political dynamics, maintaining control over the PKK and repeatedly calling for unilateral ceasefires.

Ocalan, symbol of the Kurdish cause and its diaspora

Ocalan remains a symbol of the Kurdish cause, not only in Turkey but also among Kurdish refugees in Europe. His face is often seen on flags during demonstrations across the continent.

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