Turkey Cracks Down on PKK Terror Group Amid Furtive Talks With Jailed Leader

Turkish security forces stand behind barricades as protesters gather at a rally organised by the pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, dubbed "Freedom Rally Against Isolation," against the continued isolation of imprisoned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) founder Abdullah Ocalan in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on Oct. 13, 2024. Ilyas Akengin/AFP via Getty Images

Last week, Turkish authorities detained scores of people for suspected links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is viewed as a terrorist group by Ankara, Brussels, and Washington.

On Feb. 18, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that almost 300 suspects had been arrested in multiple provinces, including Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

“We are determined to eradicate terrorism in all its forms,” Yerlikaya said in remarks cited by Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency.

Some critics accuse the government of using the anti-terrorism measures as a pretext for harassing and sidelining its political opponents.

“The government has been on an authoritarian trajectory for a long time,” said Ilhan Uzgel, deputy chairperson in charge of foreign affairs for the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkey’s main opposition party.

“But recently, it seems to have spiraled out of control,” Uzgel told The Epoch Times. “It’s no longer only about the Kurds or the CHP.”

Since the mid-1980s, the PKK has waged a violent insurgency against the Turkish state. It has carried out numerous attacks in Turkey, on both military and civilian targets, resulting in thousands of deaths.

In October, PKK gunmen attacked the headquarters of a Turkish defense firm in Ankara, leaving five people dead, along with the perpetrators.

In response, Turkey’s air force struck PKK positions in northern Iraq, where the group is based, and in Syria, where an affiliated group—the YPG—maintains a significant presence.

Syrian Kurdish militia members of the YPG make a V-sign next to a drawing of Abdullah Ocalan, jailed Kurdish rebel leader, in Esme village in Aleppo province, Syria, on Feb. 22, 2015. Mursel Coban/Depo Photos via AP, File

Local Officials Removed

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the crackdowns on suspected PKK sympathizers are crucial to maintaining national security.

After the recent spate of arrests, Yerlikaya, the interior minister, said the campaign was aimed at ensuring “the peace, unity, and security of our nation.”

According to some Turkish media outlets, those detained in the latest security sweep also included a number of opposition party members and journalists.

Turkey’s opposition-leaning Bianet news agency reported that several members of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party and smaller leftist parties had been among those arrested.

Recent months have also seen several elected officials removed from their posts after being accused—and, in some cases, convicted—of having PKK links.

On Feb. 11, a government prosecutor in Istanbul ordered the detention of nine CHP-affiliated local council members for alleged ties to the terrorist group.

The CHP denies the charges, saying the move was politically motivated.

“The crackdown on PKK-affiliated individuals is only one part of the story,” Uzgel said. “Moderate critics of the government are also being detained.”

On Feb. 14, a DEM Party-affiliated mayor in Turkey’s eastern Van province was removed from office after being convicted of “assisting an armed terrorist organization”—a reference to the PKK.

The DEM Party, which holds the third largest number of seats in Turkey’s parliament, decried the move, calling it a “blow” to the popular will.

Since local elections were held last year, eight DEM Party-affiliated mayors in eastern Turkey, where Kurds account for much of the population, have been removed from office following similar terrorism-related convictions.

Within the same period, two CHP-affiliated mayors—both in Istanbul—were also removed from their posts amid similar circumstances.

“One was convicted of being connected to a terrorist organization and the other was charged with corruption. But the charges are fabricated,” Uzgel alleged.

In last year’s local polls, CHP candidates won in most of the country’s major cities, including both Istanbul and Ankara.

Last week, the European Parliament condemned what it described as Turkey’s “arbitrary dismissal and imprisonment of democratically elected mayors.”

The government, for its part, dismisses claims that opposition figures are unfairly targeted, insisting that the Turkish judiciary functions independently of the ruling party.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters following early exit poll results for the second round of the presidential election in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 28, 2023. Murad Sezer/Reuters

Talks With Jailed PKK Leader

The latest anti-terrorism crackdown comes amid talks between the government and jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, in which the DEM Party has served as an intermediary.

In October, Devlet Bahceli, head of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party, called on Ocalan to instruct PKK members—both in Turkey and Iraq—to lay down their arms.

In return, Bahceli said, the authorities would consider releasing Ocalan after 25 years of imprisonment.

A day after he made the proposal, the PKK carried out its deadly attack on the Ankara defense firm headquarters.

Nevertheless, Erdogan also later endorsed the idea, describing it as a “historic window of opportunity” to end the decades-long conflict.

In 2015, peace talks between Ankara and the PKK collapsed, leading to a resumption of violence. The following year, Erdogan’s ruling AKP forged an alliance with Bahceli’s nationalist party.

Ocalan founded the Marxist-leaning PKK in 1978 with the aim of carving out a Kurdish state in the region. Since then, the group has moderated its stance, calling for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey.

In 1999, Ocalan was captured in Kenya by Turkish security forces. Since then, he has been held at an island prison near Istanbul in Turkey’s Sea of Marmara.

In late December, Ocalan reportedly voiced support for the government’s peace proposal.

“I possess the necessary competence and determination to contribute positively to the new paradigm supported by Mr. Bahceli and Mr. Erdogan,” he said in a statement transmitted via the DEM Party.

Early this month, DEM Party co-chairman Tuncer Bakirhan told supporters in parliament that Ocalan would soon make a “historic call.”

The jailed PKK leader, Bakirhan said, was “preparing to make a historic call in the coming days for a permanent solution to the Kurdish issue.”

According to Abdullah Agar, a Turkish expert on regional and military affairs, Ocalan has yet to issue the promised call.

“What is the PKK’s ultimate aim?” Agar asked. “While the issue appears to involve political, administrative, and economic demands, it also includes calls for Ocalan’s release.”

“Amnesties are typically granted only after terrorist organizations have unconditionally surrendered,” he told The Epoch Times.

Masked women on horseback carry the Kurdish flag near the Arbil Citadel during a celebration of the Kurdish Flag Day in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region, on Dec. 17, 2024. Safin Hamid/AFP via Getty Images

Secretive Meeting in Iraq

According to Uzgel, Ocalan had been expected to issue his landmark statement on Feb. 15 instructing his followers to lay down their arms.

“But that deadline passed without any developments,” he said. “Negotiations are probably still underway but we don’t know the details.”

Asked if there was any connection between the anti-PKK crackdowns and the ongoing talks with Ocalan, Uzgel said they appeared to contradict one another.

“On one hand, the government is trying to launch an initiative to solve the Kurdish issue,” he said. “On the other, it is increasing its crackdowns on Kurdish politicians.”

On Feb. 16, several DEM Party officials visited northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, where they reportedly delivered a message from Ocalan to Masoud Barzani, the leader of Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party.

In a subsequent statement, Barzani, whose family has long played an outsized role in Kurdish politics, expressed readiness “to provide assistance and support to the peace process.”

According to Agar, the influential Barzani clan “seems to be positioning itself to play a mediating role” between Ankara and the PKK.

However, he added, the Barzanis are also “pursuing their own strategic interests.”

“Shifting dynamics, especially in neighboring Syria, have presented an opportunity for the Barzanis to bolster their regional influence,” Agar said.

“Barzani also appears to see an opportunity to fill any power vacuum that would be left by the PKK’s departure [from the region].”

Uzgel, who is also a professor of international relations, noted the “obvious connection between Kurdish-populated areas in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.”

“Of course, we value any effort to find a solution to the Kurdish issue,” Uzgel said. “But we still don’t know the details of the ongoing talks between the parties.

“Nor do we know what the [Turkish] government is trying to do, or what exactly the Kurdish politicians are negotiating for.”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.