The year 2025 has come to an end. But crises and wars have not. War or conflict is raging in over 60 countries, and the trend is increasing.
Amidst this negative picture, a glimmer of hope appears on the horizon, more important than ever in dark times. It emerges in a region of global relevance marked by lines of conflict with religious and ethnic connotations.
For more than one and a half years, a dialogue process has been taking place between the Turkish state and Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan. Abdullah Öcalan’s declaration of 27 February for peace and a democratic society, in which he called for the laying down of arms and the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), marks a milestone. The PKK responded immediately to this call with a unilateral ceasefire and decided at its 12th Congress to disband and lay down its arms. It emphasised this decision with a ceremony on 11 July, in which a group of leaders and fighters burned weapons. Another milestone is the withdrawal from the borders of Turkey and the border area of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which was announced at a press conference on 26 October. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party had also withdrawn its forces from Turkey in 1999, but the efforts for peace remained unanswered at that time.
A commission of representatives from numerous parties was formed in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which consulted a wide range of groups and organisations (chambers, associations, academics, civil society actors, National Intelligence Organisation MIT, ministers). A delegation from the commission, members of the AKP, MHP and DEM parties, visited Abdullah Öcalan on the prison island of İmralı. Unfortunately, the largest opposition party, the CHP, did not join the delegation. The report on this visit has not been published and only provides a summary of the exchange. For the dialogue process to continue, it is essential that society has free and full access to these documents. In addition, the political parties were asked to prepare a report with proposals for a solution. Unfortunately, these reports do not adequately address the Kurdish question. While the CHP tends to list general statements about democracy, the AKP and MHP continue to promote the narrative of a Turkey free of terrorism.
In this context, reference should be made to the massive repression against the CHP. The imprisonment and dismissal of mayors and the lifting of immunity for members of parliament have now also affected them. Their stance is therefore crucial for their own future. It should be emphasised that the attacks against the CHP are incompatible with the dialogue process and damage the credibility of the state.
For decades, the people of Turkey have been paying a high price for the war. A fundamental paradigm shift and change in policy is therefore urgently needed.
Anyone who fails to address the Kurdish question correctly will be unable to generate a sustainable solution.
The Kurdish side is resolutely pursuing the path to peace and a democratic society. Beginning this process with the laying down of arms, usually one of the final steps in conflict resolution, underlines this determination. The state, on the other hand, is delaying the necessary steps.
Numerous rulings by the European Court of Human Rights and decisions by the Council of Europe, including those concerning the legal principle of hope, are awaiting implementation. In addition to the release of Osman Kavala and the former co-chairs of the HDP, Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, this includes, above all, the release of Abdullah Öcalan. He is a key player in the dialogue process and has the power to transform it into a sustainable peace process.
This is relevant not only for Turkey, but for the entire region.
Syria, in particular the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, is the focus of attention here. Time and again, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defense Minister Yaşar Güler in particular have expressed threats against the achievements of the Kurds and their allies. They are calling for the dissolution of the Syrian Democratic Forces in the army of the Syrian transitional government. As an autonomous structure, these forces are essential for the peaceful coexistence of ethnic and religious diversity in Syria.
The Turkish occupation of Syria (Afrin and Serekaniye) must end. There are dozens of Turkish military bases in the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in Iraq. These must also be abolished. However, Turkey continues to rely on its military presence. With the votes of the AKP, MHP and İyi Party, the parliament extended the corresponding mandate for another three years.
A political solution to the Kurdish question therefore extends far beyond Turkey’s borders. It also extends to the European Union. Thus, Europe carries a huge a responsibility here.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has repeatedly stated that full membership of the European Union is Turkey’s strategic goal. The European Parliament voted 367 in favour, 74 against and 188 abstentions for the Turkey report, according to which ‘under the current circumstances, Turkey’s EU accession process cannot be resumed, despite the democratic and pro-European aspirations of a large part of Turkish society’. It also states that the Turkish government has failed to address fundamental democratic shortcomings.
EU membership requires the fulfilment of certain accession criteria, such as stable institutions, democracy, the rule of law, human rights, respect for and protection of minorities, good neighborhood relations and compliance with international law, which are non-negotiable. These must not be subject to strategic considerations or negotiations. The institutions and member states of the European Union are called upon to make use of all options in this regard. The Kurdish freedom movement has laid the foundations on which to build up.
The European Union must push for Turkey to implement the decisions and rulings of its institutions. However, it can also make a key contribution to the dialogue process within Europe itself by removing the PKK from its list of terrorist organisations. It should be noted here that the listing took place in 2002 after the Kurdish side had declared several unilateral ceasefires, and that the European Court of Justice had at times (during the proceedings from 2014 to 2017) ruled that the grounds for the listing were insufficient. Reference should also be made to the ruling of the Belgian Court of Cassation, according to which the Kurdistan Workers’ Party is part of an armed conflict.
Regarding Europe, it should be emphasised that the Turkish and Kurdish communities constitute the largest migrant communities. The positive implications of peace and democratisation must be considered, also in the context of forced migration.
A new year begins. Together, we must carry the spark of peace into the world. Let us turn this glimmer of hope into a shining star in a world in the midst of war and conflict.
Abdullah Öcalan’s freedom is essential for the transformation of the dialogue process into a sustainable process for peace and a democratic society. The DEM Party’s International Peace and Democracy Conference on 6 and 7 December in Istanbul took a clear stance on this issue, as did MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, who already addressed this demand in October 2024. Adequate pressure on Turkey to create the legal and political framework conditions and intensive support for the process on the part of the European Union are also essential. In this context, removing the PKK from the list of terrorist organisations is a necessary step that should be implemented promptly. All of this is also in the interests of millions of Kurds and Turks in Europe.
As EUTCC, we will continue to monitor developments concerning the European Union, Turkey, and the Kurds critically and constructively in the future.
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EU Turkey Civic Commission
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