Rote Fahne Austria – Turkey/Kurdistan: PKK announces ceasefire, Öcalan calls for dissolution.
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by the newspaper Die Rote Fahne from Austria.
On Thursday, February 27, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999, called for the dissolution of the Party and an end to the armed struggle. He was allegedly promised an earlier release in exchange for this. Two days later, the PKK announced a ceasefire with the Turkish State. President Erdogan referred to it as a ‘historic opportunity.’ This reconciliation between Öcalan and the Turkish government was not unexpected and could result in a split within the PKK.
From (national) revolutionary aspirations to armed reformism.
According to bourgeois media, Öcalan justified his call to end the armed struggle by stating that the Turkish State had made progress regarding freedom of expression and the recognition of different identities, centering on the ‘necessity of a democratic society’ (1). What Öcalan understands by ‘democratic society’ is not a form of a people’s democratic (or new democratic) perspective in the struggle against imperialism, but rather a submission to ‘Western democratic’ States. Öcalan stated: “Today, at the end of the 20th century, the ever-evolving democracy is generally prevailing. Indeed, the countries that know how to apply this system convincingly and controllably are the most developed societies of our time. Their States exert their influence worldwide. This is obvious when we consider how the USA and England steer and shape the world.” (2) In 2000, Öcalan already revised the goal of the right to self-determination of peoples: “But they [the PKK, note] should move towards the democratic solution from the collapse of real socialism. It should have seen that the “right to self-determination of peoples” has lost its relevance and recognized that the scientific and technological changes have undermined the concept of the nation-state, which has been developed since the 17th century, and that it is more realistic to realize democracy within existing borders, without changing. In short, the PKK should have abandoned its program from the 1970s and developed a new program.” (3)
While the PKK leadership held onto the demand for an independent Kurdish nation-state and thus the struggle against imperialism and national oppression decades ago, it has increasingly reconciled its national demands with the reaction over time. An important element in recent times has been the alliance with US imperialism in northern and eastern Syria (the Rojava region), leading to the establishment of a staging area for the US in Syria through the Syrian units of the PKK (Democratic Union Party – PYD). It is also significant that the area controlled by the PYD is the richest in oil in Syria. A PKK representative stated at the time: “How can America achieve its goals in the Middle East without the PKK? Without the Kurds? It can’t be done. How can Europe end its dependence on Russian gas without us? The route of oil and natural gas to the Mediterranean also passes through Rojava. If this route could be secured, Europe could also breathe easier.’ He further stated: ‘The US plans to stay in this region for a long time and support Rojava. This is an important step for the PYD and the leadership in Rojava.” (4) With the coup in Syria that took place in early December 2024, other opportunities arise for the so-called ‘Western’ imperialists, mainly the USA. Former US President Biden spoke on December 13, 2024, of a ‘historic opportunity’ that would present itself for the USA after the fall of Assad. (5) In early January, the USA already announced a relaxation of sanctions against Syria. (6) If the Syrian HTS rulers prove their willingness to serve US interests, US support for the PYD in Syria will also be on shaky ground, along with every arm of the PKK on which the armed struggle has mainly focused in recent years.
These developments show that armed reformism, meaning the abandonment of the revolutionary and anti-imperialist content of the armed national struggle, does not represent a perspective for the oppressed peoples and nations. Even if immediate peace negotiations and the dissolution of the PKK do not occur, those forces within the PKK leadership that have distanced themselves from the aforementioned content will push for a perspective of reconciliation with the Turkish State and its imperialist overlords.
Will the PKK be able to ‘dissolve’ so easily?
Öcalan’s statement that the ‘Turkish State has made progress’ is likely not shared by all combatants within the PKK ranks. Many of them have risked their lives in the struggle for decades and have made great sacrifices. As recently as the end of 2024, the Turkish State bombed Kurdish combatants in northern Iraq and northern Syria. It is reasonable to assume that many of them are neither willing to capitulate nor to reconcile with the rulers in Turkey. With the public call and the subsequent enforcement of the dissolution of the PKK and the end of the armed struggle, Öcalan provokes a split within the PKK.
In a time of international changes and upheavals, which we are currently experiencing in rapid succession, both the independence and self-determination of oppressed peoples and nations, as well as the struggle against imperialist war and exploitation, are gaining increasing importance. Carrying this into the movements of workers, peoples, and nations is one of the tasks of democratic and revolutionary forces.
(1) orf.at, „PKK soll Kampf gegen Türkei beenden“
(2) Abdullah Öcalan: Zur Lösung der kurdischen Frage – Visionen einer demokratischen Republik, S. 84, Hg. Kurdistan Informations-Zentrum, 1. Auflage, September 2000, Berlin
(3) Abdullah Öcalan: Zur Lösung der kurdischen Frage – Visionen einer demokratischen Republik, S. 65, Hg. Kurdistan Informations-Zentrum, 1. Auflage, September 2000, Berlin
(4) Interview mit PKK-Funktionär Cemil Bayik, zit. aus linkezeitung.de, „Taktisches Bündnis mit US-Imperialismus führt zur Niederlage“
(5) tagesschau.de; „Welche Ziele verfolgen die USA in Syrien?“
(6) orf.at; „USA wollen Syrien-Sanktionen vorübergehend lockern“
