Mon Feb 17 14:58:41 UTC 2025: ## Jailed PKK Leader Ocalan Working on Peace Plan for Turkey-Kurdish Conflict

**Erbil, Iraq – February 17, 2025** – A pro-Kurdish delegation has announced that Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is actively developing a plan for a democratic settlement to the four-decade conflict between Turkey and Kurdish militants.

The delegation, representing the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), met with Ocalan twice in recent weeks and subsequently engaged with Turkish parliamentary factions before traveling to Iraq. Following a meeting with Kurdistan Regional President Nechirvan Barzani in Erbil, Keskin Bayindir of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) revealed that Ocalan is striving to transition the conflict from a military struggle to a legal and democratic process. Bayindir stated that Ocalan’s roadmap aims to resolve not only the Turkey-Kurdish conflict but also broader Middle Eastern crises.

While a specific timeline for the plan’s unveiling hasn’t been set, Kurdish politicians express confidence it will be presented before Newroz, the Kurdish New Year, in March. The delegation plans further discussions in Sulaymaniyah.

This renewed hope for peace follows an October olive branch extended by Turkey’s nationalist MHP party, urging Ocalan to renounce violence in exchange for potential early release. This move, supported by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has reignited efforts to end a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. The PKK, which operates in Iraq’s Kurdistan region where Turkey maintains military bases, has waged a protracted insurgency against the Turkish state.

Read More