Afrasianet - Kemal Ozturk - At 5 p.m. on February 27, 2025, the entire Turkish people nailed to the screens waiting to read a statement from Abdullah Ocalan, the  founder  of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who has been in prison for 26 years on the island of Imrali in the middle of the Sea of Marmara.

This letter was of great importance, as it was expected to include a call from Ocalan for the PKK and all allied factions in Syria, Iraq and Iran to lay down arms and dissolve the organization.

It was just at the exact time  that HDP representatives stood  in front of the cameras and read that historic statement.

Ocalan made an unconditional call to lay down arms and dissolve the PKK.

"All factions must lay down their arms, and Labour must dissolve itself," the letter said.

How did the process go and who are the main actors?

Between 2009 and 2014, under the name of "Operation Dissolution," Turkey tried to disarm the PKK, but the process eventually faltered.

The party had reached an agreement with America and reorganized itself in northern Syria under other names in an area called Rojava, ending the dissolution process.

For this reason, everyone in Turkey was opposed to any new solution, but the situation changed after the Gaza war. 

President Erdoğan realized that the war could spill over to Syria, and from there it might somehow affect the Turkish interior, so he began calling for "strengthening ranks and strengthening the home front."

The aim of this call was to withdraw the "Kurdish card" from the hands of the PKK and other groups in northern Syria, so as not to influence the Kurds inside Turkey.

The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the other partner in the government and the biggest opponent of the previous dissolution process, Devlet Bahceli, announced his support for this project and issued an unexpected statement.

Bahceli initially met with HDP representatives, then stated, "If Ocalan is going to invite the PKK to disarm and dissolve the organization, let him come and speak at the HDP parliamentary bloc if he wants."

This statement caused a great shock in the country, as Bahceli is one of the most prominent figures in the nationalist movement, and his statement on October 22, 2024, accelerated the process.

President Erdoğan declared his strong support for Bahceli's statement and tasked the head of the National Intelligence Service, Ibrahim Kalin, with managing the operation.

Representatives of the HDP visited Ocalan, who in turn announced that he supported Bahceli's invitation. Thus began the process of drafting the letter, which was read on February 27.

While the HDP was meeting political parties to rally support, Ibrahim Kalin was planning the details of the announcement.

What did the statements include?

The original letter written by Ocalan in his handwriting in Turkish is 3 and a half pages long. At the end of the letter, it was written on February 25, 2025, with the signature of Abdullah Ocalan.

The letter was digitized and handed over to the HDP delegation for reading. At the meeting in Imrali, Ocalan's lawyers and colleagues in prison were also present. A photograph was taken the moment the letter was delivered and distributed to the media. 

Among the delegation of 7 HDP members who went to the island of Imrali to receive the letter, Ahmet Turk, the former mayor of Mardin, read the Kurdish version of the letter. Pervin Buldan, a deputy and former head of the HDP, then read the original transcript written in Turkish.

At the beginning of the letter, Ocalan explains why he founded the organization, how his ideology evolved according to circumstances, how he reached this stage, and why he did not succeed in achieving his goals.

Ocalan says:

"The longest and most comprehensive insurgency and violence movement in the history of the republic, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has found strength and a grassroots as a result of the closure of the channels of democratic politics."

"Solutions based on extreme nationalism, such as an independent nation-state, federalism, self-administration, and cultural solutions, have not been able to meet the requirements of the social and historical rights of society."

In the next part of the letter, Ocalan announces the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which he founded 47 years ago in the Liege region of Diyarbakir province, with the aim of creating a "Kurdistan State," using the following phrases:

"I bear the historic responsibility of this invitation, which came in light of the current political climate formed as a result of Mr. Devlet Bahceli's invitation, the will shown by the President of the Republic, and the positive attitudes of other political parties towards this call. As any modern association or party that has not been dissolved by force does, they met in a conference for integration with the state and society and made the decision: all organizations must leave arms, and the PKK must be dissolved. I send my greetings to all parties who believe in coexistence and respond to my invitation."

What are the effects of Ocalan's invitation?

•    The text declares with no interpretation of the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

•    It is expected that most of the group's elements will abide by this call, because failure to comply with it will put them in a position of disobedience and rebellion against Ocalan, and therefore there will no longer be any elements of the Kurdish people joining the organization.

•    Whether the group gives up arms or not, the announcement is a major gain for Turkey in its war on "terrorism."

•    The dissolution of the PKK would strengthen the position of the Barzani administration in Iraqi Kurdistan and the central government in Baghdad, where they have long had problems with the group.

•    Now, they will be able to deal more easily with any elements that haven't thrown away the weapon.

•    Despite Ocalan's invitation, the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria announced that it would not abide by it, saying that "this invitation belongs to the PKK, and does not include us."

•    Yet the move would provoke divisions within the YPG, with some finding themselves in an anti-Ocalan stance, potentially leading to splits within the group.

•    Security sources indicate that Israel and the United States are the main reason why the YPG rejected Ocalan's invitation, which would make the organization in Turkey's view a "foreign mercenary army" serving foreign agendas.

•    The Syrian government will benefit from the new situation, as it will be able to put more pressure on the YPG to disarm and integrate it into the regime.

•    Even if the group emerges under new names, morale and combat motivation will not remain the same, meaning it will gradually lose its influence until it disappears completely.

•    In some areas that have been under exceptional measures due to PKK threats, the state of emergency is expected to be lifted, accelerating development projects and investments.

•    The HDP will be freed from the pressure of the PKK, which will allow it to practice a civil policy away from armed influence, which will strengthen democracy in Turkey.

•    Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Devlet Bahceli will go down in history as political leaders who have ended the world's longest armed insurgency, which will strengthen their domestic position and raise their popularity.

•    The head of the Turkish intelligence service, Ibrahim Kalin, will have a prominent place in history as the architect of this operation, increasing his power and influence within the state.