Turkey and the PKK: Who is Abdullah Ocalan?

For decades, Abdullah Ocalan has been at the heart of the Kurdish question in Turkey and the wider Middle East.

The founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane or PKK) in southeastern Turkey in 1978, Ocalan has been incarcerated in Imrali island prison south of Istanbul since 1999.

But even from prison, he remains a crucial political figure, issuing orders and pronouncements that can change the future of the region.

Why does Ocalan matter?

To describe Ocalan as a controversial and polarising figure is an understatement.

For millions of Kurds across the Middle East and the diaspora, he is responsible more than any other person for raising the profile of the Kurdish plight, fighting against governments, and building a range of media outlets, political organisations, community buildings, language schools, and festivals.

His face is ubiquitous at rallies across not only Turkey but the Middle East, Europe, and other parts of the Kurdish diaspora.

But for Turkey, he is the "baby-killer", as he was branded in the press, overseeing terror attacks and a violent insurgency during the 1980s and 1990s that led to tens of thousands of deaths and threatened the break-up of the country.

In recent years, leftists in Europe and the Middle East have praised Ocalan for building arguably the largest left-wing movement in the region, with an ideology based on secularism, feminism, and decentralised democracy.

But he also has critics, including amongst Kurdish activists. Some of these are former comrades who have called Ocalan out for his authoritarianism, personality cult, and abandoning the ultimate goal of an independent Kurdistan.

This week Ocalan again changed the agenda and called for the PKK to end its insurgency against Turkey - which has lasted more than four decades - and dissolve itself.

But what this will mean in practice, not just for the PKK but also political organisations and others who follow Ocalan and his ideology?

“Ocalan’s call sets the framework for what the PKK needs to do next – but whether the group takes the next step for a congress, well, that will depend on whether they think they are getting what they need,” Aliza Marcus, author of Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence, told Middle East Eye.

“We don’t know what behind-the-scenes deals may have been worked out in advance, but we do know that the PKK’s leadership in [Iraq] is very willing to put its own conditions and interpretations on Ocalan’s statements.”

What was Ocalan's early life?

After the end of World War 1 and the reshaping of the boundaries of the Middle East, millions of Kurds were left scattered across Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria.

The Treaty of Sevres in 1920 would have seen the victorious allies including the US, UK and France create a Kurdish state from the former territories of the Ottoman Empire. But it was ditched for the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 after the success of the Turkish War of Independence between 1919 and 1923.

Kurds now faced repression in all the states and countries where they lived. Turkey, with its new nationalist government, arguably imposed the strictest regulations, banning Kurdish names, the Kurdish language, and refusing to acknowledge Kurds - mostly located in its south east as a minority.

Kurdish rebellions against the republic in 1924 and 1937 were crushed. In 1956 a British diplomat travelling through the south east noted that he did not "catch the faintest breath of Kurdish nationalism which the most casual observer in Iraq cannot fail to notice".

Villages, towns, and cities in Kurdish regions were marked with the famous slogan by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's founding father: "How happy is the one who says 'I am a Turk'."

It was in this environment that Abdullah Ocalan was born in 1946 or 1947: the year is unclear as there was no official record of his birth in his remote home village of Omerli in the southeastern Sanliurfa province.

Life then was hard for most Kurds in Turkey, with electricity and running water largely non-existent, and poverty ubiquitous. Unlike Kurdish political leaders in Iraq and Iran, or those who had come before in Turkey, Ocalan had no links to the land-owning class, religious institutions, or tribal leadership.

He would later say he grew up in an environment of "overwhelming unhappiness" marked by back-breaking farm labour; and he recalls his sister being effectively "sold" to a man in another village for flour and money, an incident he said coloured his view on the need for women's emancipation in Kurdistan.

“I recall having a sense of regret,” Ocalan said with regards to his sister. “[I was thinking that] if I were a revolutionary, then I would not let this happen. They would not be able to take her away.”

When did Ocalan become political?

In the mid 1960s, Ocalan failed his entrance exams for military school - an ironic early ambition for a later Kurdish nationalist - and so travelled to Ankara in 1966 to study at a vocational school.

The 1960s in Turkey had begun with hope but became increasingly politically polarised. In 1961, a new constitution was introduced, following a coup the previous year, and was hailed by many as introducing a new era of political liberalism. And while being an openly Kurdish activist in Turkey still carried risks, there was now much more debate about Kurdish rights than there had been for years.

The new mood also coincided with growth in the Turkish socialist movement, which had also been oppressed, but was now more sympathetic to Kurdish aspirations.

The rise of left-wing radicalism, combined with attempted Kurdish uprisings in neighbouring Iran and Iraq, inspired Ocalan and other Kurds, who before had little understanding of their background. Groups such as the Revolutionary Eastern Cultural Hearths were now formed, combining Kurdish nationalism and Marxism, albeit while using euphemisms to avoid state crackdowns (which nevertheless came anyway).

But this period of liberalisation did not last: soon, violence between left-wing and far-right groups grew in intensity, becoming ubiquitous from the mid-1970s onwards.

In 1971, another coup saw the closure of many of the emerging left-wing and pro-Kurdish organisations. That same year Ocalan, now 21, left his job as a clerk in Istanbul, where had moved in the early 1970s, and moved back to Ankara to study political science.

By now increasingly involved in politics, he was arrested in 1972 while protesting against the killing of armed Turkish leftists who had kidnapped three Nato technicians.

Why was the PKK formed?

Ocalan spent seven months in prison, reading extensively and discussing ideas with other jailed activists.

“For me, prison was a school on advancing the political struggle," he would later say. It would also convince him, and many other Kurds, that there was little prospect for advancing Kurdish rights through peaceful means.

On 25 November 1978, after two years of planning, a group of Kurds, including Ocalan, met in a tea house in the village of Fis in southeastern Turkey. It was there that they announced a new party: the PKK.

The two dozen activists involved in its founding had several clear ideas.

One was to focus on armed struggle, given that the decades taking a peaceful and democratic approach had only been met with arrests, extrajudicial killings, and increased state repression.

A second principle was to change Kurdish society. The failures of similar Kurdish uprisings in Iraq and Iran were, in part, attributed to the conservatism and tribalist origins of parties like the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

In contrast, the PKK would, like other national liberation movements in Vietnam, Palestine, Africa, India, and elsewhere, adopt Marxism-Leninism to create a Kurdistan that was independent and socialist.

A third focus would be on discipline. The new party would be professional, hierarchical, and focus on training and organising cadres ideologically and militarily to fight against one of the most powerful armies in Europe.

The PKK cadres would learn much of this from fellow national liberation movements, such as the Palestinians. Cadres would be sent to the camps in Lebanon to be trained by fellow Marxist-Leninists such as the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). At least 13 members of the PKK would later die fighting Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

What part did Ocalan play in the PKK?

Ocalan, from 1978 until 1984, focused on consolidating his own power in the PKK as well as the group's power over the wider Kurdish movement.

Members of other Kurdish political parties, as well as members of the PKK itself, accused Ocalan of imposing a deeply authoritarian culture within both the party and the movement, stifling debate and dissent and attacking rivals both verbally and physically.

Splits and defections from the PKK were not tolerated and could often lead to violence or assassination. Former PKK members said around six or eight experienced PKK members were summarily killed between 1984 and 1985 because they were viewed "as a possible threat or a burden".

According to Vahap Coskun, a law professor at Dicle University in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir, Ocalan developed a cult of personality within the organisation.

"Ocalan was positioned as an absolute leader within the PKK. His titles and qualities were made superhuman," he told MEE. "When the PKK was mentioned, only Ocalan's name came to mind. No other name has any importance or value within the PKK."

Supporters of the PKK saw discipline as a necessary evil to avoid the infighting and timidity that had sunk previous attempts at Kurdish independence. But critics said it left the party dominated by Ocalan and his often inflexible ideas.

In 1979, the Turkish military staged a coup and launched a crackdown across the country, primarily targeting leftists and pro-Kurdish activists. The next four years of military rule would see a new constitution imposed that restricted Kurdish activism even more. Many members of the PKK found themselves in the notorious Diyarbakir prison where they faced severe torture.

The military's actions proved for many Kurds once and for all that the Turkish state would never willingly grant concessions to them, or recognise their existence. In 1984, armed struggle was officially launched.

What role did Ocalan play in PKK's guerilla war?

The next 15 years would see southeastern Turkey plunged into a guerrilla war. The PKK targeted state assets, police, and military as well as civilians they alleged were collaborating with the Turkish state.

In their first attack on 15 August 1984, PKK forces attacked the gendarmerie station in Eruh, Siirt, killing one soldier and injuring six others and three civilians. Simultaneously, they carried out another attack in Hakkari, which killed two police officers.

Initially, the Turkish state did not take the attacks seriously - then just a few days later, a PKK attack killed three presidential guards belonging to President Kenan Evran, who also led the 1979 coup. 

The army soon launched a crackdown in areas of southeastern Turkey suspected of being sympathetic towards the PKK: whole Kurdish villages were depopulated and destroyed, mass arrests were carried out, prisoners and others were subjected to torture, and indiscriminate violence was meted out.

The death toll over four decades has been put at more than 40,000 killed, the majority Kurds.

Far-right and Islamist groups - often linked to organised crime - were secretly empowered by the state to kill suspected PKK supporters, journalists, and leftists.

But, according to Coskun, the state's methods only saw PKK support grow amongst Kurds in Turkey. "The PKK was perceived as an organisation that fought against the state that violated the fundamental rights of the Kurds and trampled on the dignity of the Kurds, and defended the Kurds against the state," he told MEE. "As the state's oppression increased in the 1990s, the PKK became even more massive."

Ocalan had moved to Syria in 1979 and would remain there until 1998. Although Syria had its own Kurdish minority, President Hafez al-Assad was keen to pressure Ankara and so allowed the PKK to operate from its soil.

Support for the PKK amongst Turkey's Kurds grew, along with awareness of Kurdish culture and history both in the country and in Europe. New outlets and institutions - some directly backed by the PKK, some with no link, some existing in a grey area, emerged internationally to highlight Kurdish rights.

Turkish President Tughat Ozal - who claimed Kurdish heritage himself - made gestures towards Kurdish figures in neighbouring Iraq, overturning a long taboo on the subject. He also overturned the ban on the Kurdish language being spoken publicly.

In March 1993, Ocalan, hoping that Ozal was sincere, announced a 25-day unilateral ceasefire.

Using Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as a go-between, he implied was willing to talk to Ozal.

But a month later Ozal was dead from a heart attack: many suspected he had been poisoned.  And the rest of the 1990s would see the bloodshed reach new heights.

According to Amnesty International, thousands were "disappeared" by state-linked forces, and as many as two million people were displaced, while the PKK at times resorted to suicide bombings and extortion.

When did Ocalan abandon Kurdish independence?

Things came to a head in 1998. The presence of Ocalan in Syria and ongoing PKK attacks eventually became too much for Ankara, which threatened to invade Syria if the Kurdish leader wasn't dealt with. Not willing to risk a conflict with the second-largest army in Nato, Assad expelled Ocalan.

Ocalan fled across Europe where he sought asylum unsuccessfully. Eventually, in 1999, he was captured in Kenya by the Turkish security services.

Initially, Ocalan was sentenced to death for treason at a trial that was criticised by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

After Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

'The right of determination of the people includes the right to a state of their own. However, the foundation of a state does not increase the freedom of a people'

- Abdullah Ocalan

He has remained jailed in Imrali ever since. During his time in prison, Ocalan re-evaluated his political ideas.

He abandoned his long-held commitment to Marxism-Leninism, and instead started espousing what he called 'Democratic Confederalism', inspired by the writings of American anarchist Murray Bookchin.

He also published several works that captured his fresh vision of a future Middle East.

Gone would be the primacy of the nation-state, instead replaced with a decentralised post-capitalist society that emphasised feminism, environmentalism and self-determination for ethnic and religious groups.

"The right of determination of the people includes the right to a state of their own. However, the foundation of a state does not increase the freedom of a people," he wrote in his book Democratic Confederalism.

"The system of the United Nations that is based on nation-states has remained inefficient [for] social development. Democratic Confederalism is the contrasting paradigm of the oppressed people."

Ocalan's ideas were adopted throughout the PKK and its affiliated organisations, and welcomed by many left-wing groups, which saw them as politically inspiring in an age where many national liberation groups had become sclerotic or, in the Middle East, dominated by conservative Islamism.

But Ocalan had abandoned the PKK's goal of an independent Kurdistan - and not everyone welcomed that.

Huseyin Topgider was a founding member of the PKK, who left after Ocalan abandoned the goal of Kurdish independence. “The PKK doesn’t know any more what it wants," he said. "It says it wants freedom, everyone wants freedom. It says the Kurdish problem must be solved, but what does this mean now?”

Turkey and the Kurds: What's happening now?

Even while in prison, Ocalan continued to dominate Kurdish politics, and was crucial in an abortive peace process that would see the PKK disarm.

In 2013, he organised a ceasefire with Turkey that was intended as the basis for talks to end the conflict.

"Let guns be silenced and politics dominate... a new door is being opened from the process of armed conflict to democratisation and democratic politics," he said in a statement read to crowds in Diyarbakir to mark Newroz, the Kurdish new year. "It's not the end. It's the start of a new era."

That era also saw the flourishing of Kurdish and pro-Kurdish political and media organisations. The Turkish state eased restrictions on teaching Kurdish in private schools and allowed the establishment of Kurdish broadcasters.

'It’s not just up to Ocalan and has not been for years. He sets the framework, but because he is in prison... the PKK itself defines its next moves'

- Aliza Marcus, specialist on Kurds

But the ceasefire collapsed in 2015 due to a range of reasons, not least the war in southern Syria, and war exploded again in southeastern Turkey. Armed gun battles broke out on the streets of regional cities. The Turkish army reduced swathes of the area to rubble. Thousands were killed.

From then on, Ocalan's visitation rights in jail were heavily restricted. Kurdish activists across Turkey called for an end to his "isolation" with protests and even hunger strikes demanding he be allowed access to family and lawyers.

But then, in October 2024, something unexpected happened. Devlet Bahceli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), suggested that Ocalan could be paroled if he renounced "terrorism" and dissolved the PKK. 

The move was greeted with surprise: the MHP were for years the most implacable opponents of the PKK and any hint of Kurdish autonomy.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an ally of Bahceli, supported his comments and said he hoped "this unique window of opportunity that the ruling coalition is offering to end the terror will not be sacrificed to personal agendas".

The reasons for the move have been debated.

Some analysts suggest that Erdogan lacks the parliamentary numbers to pass constitutional changes that could extend his term of office. If, the theory goes, he  releases Ocalan and promises concessions on Kurdish rights, then the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party may back him.

Despite this, mass arrests of leftist and Kurdish activists and politicians has continued in recent weeks and months.

Regardless, the move by Bahceli once again highlighted the centrality of Ocalan to the Kurdish movement - and no other Kurdish political figure can claim anywhere near the influence he has had and will doubtless continue to have.

Marcus said Ocalan’s imprisonment had altered the dynamics of his relationship with the PKK as an organisation.

“It’s not just up to Ocalan and has not been for years. He sets the framework, but because he is in prison and has not been able to have regular contact, the PKK itself defines its next moves,” she told MEE.

“We’ve seen this in the past, including during the 2013-2015 peace process, when Ocalan called on the rebels to withdraw from Turkey. The PKK started and then stopped the withdrawal, saying that Turkey hadn't responded positively to its initial moves.”