(Bloomberg) -- A key ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, to be freed if he announces the dissolution of the group.
Such a move would pave the way for a resolution to the PKK’s 40-year fight against the state for autonomy in the country’s southeast and could boost Erdogan’s support as he seeks to rewrite the constitution.
“Let him declare that terror is over and that his organization is abolished,” the hard-line Nationalist Movement Party’s leader Devlet Bahceli said of Abdullah Ocalan, who’s been imprisoned since 1999.
“If he displays this determination, let the path for the ‘right to hope’ be opened,” he said, referring to the conditional release of inmates for good conduct.
The call comes as Erdogan looks for ways to overhaul Turkey’s constitution, which currently bars him from running for president after 2028.
One way would be to hold a referendum, but that requires parliamentary support from an opposition party like the pro-Kurdish DEM Party.
“We are ready to take the initiative for an honorable peace,” DEM Party Co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari said after Bahceli’s comments.
Bahceli has influence with Erdogan due to their parties’ informal coalition, and has sometimes played a kingmaker role in elections. Nationalist leaders have historically taken a hard-line stance on the conflict with Kurdish militants, in which some 40,000 people have died.
Ocalan was captured in Kenya and sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison after Turkey abolished capital punishment to comply with EU accession requirements. Besides Turkey, the US and EU also list the PKK as a terror organization.
Turkey has cracked down on its pro-Kurdish movement since peace talks stalled about a decade ago. It’s jailed thousands of people, including the prominent politician Selahattin Demirtas over alleged links to the PKK.
--With assistance from Selcan Hacaoglu and Beril Akman.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.