PKK tells Ankara no disarmament congress unless led by Öcalan

The PKK, which the Turkish government waits for a “disarmament and dissolution congress”, declared it would not unless Öcalan led it. Rojava Kurdish Unity Conference convenes in Qamishli. Tension rising in Ankara. (Photo: Nerina Azad)

Impatience is growing and nerves are on edge in Ankara because of a recent statement by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) regarding the “laying arms” congress that the President Tayyip Erdoğan administration is waiting for. Following a suggestion by Erdoğan’s ally, the MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, PKK’s founding leader Abdullah Öcalan called on his organization from İmrali prison on February 27 to convene a congress to “lay down arms and dissolve itself”, to which the PKK leadership responded, “We will not convene a congress without Öcalan leading it.”
In its May Day celebration on April 28, the organization’s leadership announced that they were waiting for Öcalan to “regain the conditions to live and work freely and to lead the party congress” and that “nothing concrete has reached them” about it.

Towards a Gordian knot

In short, the PKK leadership wants Öcalan to lead the disarmament and dissolution congress from İmralı. It is as if the acting leader, Cemil Bayık, in Qandil Mountains of Iraq, is telling Abdullah Öcalan “you founded it, you finish it”.
Ankara, on the other hand, makes every step, including Öcalan’s free working conditions and legal arrangements, contingent on the PKK’s decision to lay down arms and dissolve.
Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç had previously said that Öcalan couldn’t lead the PKK Congress via live video conference and that indirect methods of communication could be found. Ankara does not want the risk of Öcalan making a different call than the one agreed upon on live TV.
The PKK is trying to take advantage of the opportunity to gain distance.

Rojava congress for Kurdish unity

The news Ankara was waiting for from Qandil did not come, but another news came from Qamishli, Nusaybin’s twin on the Syrian side. On April 26, the “National Unity of Rojava Kurds” conference convened in Qamishli, with the participation of representatives of the Kurdish-problem-focused DEM Party in the Turkish Parliament. The participants demanded political representation in the Syrian government and autonomy, including recognition of Kurdish as an official language.
While the ruling AKP and MHP officials expect the PKK to decide on a disarmament and dissolution congress in late April or early May, the PKK is insisting on its first condition, playing for time and seeking international political support.

The Syrian government of Ahmed Shara reacted to the decisions of the Rojava Congress, to which the PKK’s Syrian branch, PYD, is a co-organizer, as a violation of the country’s territorial integrity and the previous agreement with the SDF.

Ankara’s temper is on the rise

Another reaction came from Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who was in Qatar yesterday (April 27). “We do not accept any initiative that will perpetuate terrorist organizations in Syria,” Fidan said: “We are waiting for the agreement signed between the YPG and the Syrian government in recent months to be implemented. Just as DAESH left the system, the PKK will also leave the system. Either voluntarily, peacefully, in peace, or in another way.”
Fidan’s last sentence shows that Ankara is increasing its irritation and threats as long as there is no news of the PKK’s expected disarmament and dissolution congress.