Abdullah Öcalan

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Abdullah "Apo" Öcalan (born April 4, 1948), is the former leader of the Kurdish militant group Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Contents 1 Biography 2 Capture and trial 3 Current situation 4 Calls for truce 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Biography

Öcalan was born in Ömerli, a village in Halfeti, Şanlıurfa Province, in the southeast of Turkey.^[1] After leaving his village after secondary school he studied Political Sciences at the University of Ankara, but dropped out and entered the civil service in Diyarbakır.^{[citation needed]} Influenced by the situation of the Kurdish people, Abdullah Öcalan became an active member of the Democratic Cultural Associations of the East, an association promoting the rights of the Kurdish people.^{[citation needed]} In 1978, two years before the military coup in 1980, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was founded with Abdullah Öcalan as its leader. He currently retains this post.

In 1984 the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) initiated a campaign of armed conflict comprising of militant attacks against government forces and civilians^[2][3][4][5] in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey in order to create an independent Kurdish state. Approximately 30,000 people were killed by armed fights, between PKK and the Republic of Turkey as a result of these attacks, between 1984 and 2003.

PKK has been labelled a terrorist organisation by several states and international organizations such as Turkey,^[6] the United States,^[7] the European Union, Syria,^[8] Canada, Iran and Australia.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Capture and trial

Until 1998 Öcalan was harboured by Syria. As the situation deteriorated in Turkey, the Turkish government openly threatened Syria over its support for the PKK. As a result of this, the Syrian government forced Öcalan to leave the country, but did not hand him to the Turkish authorities.

Öcalan went to Russia first and from there he moved to various countries, including Italy and Greece. In 1998 the Turkish government requested the extradition of Öcalan from Italy where he was at the time. He was at that time defended by the high-profile German attorney, Britta Böhler who argued that he fought a legitimate struggle against the oppression of his people. He was captured in Kenya on February 15, 1999, whilst being transferred from the Greek embassy to the Nairobi international airport, in an operation by the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT). He was then flown back to Turkey for trial. His capture led thousands of protesting Kurds to seize Greek embassies around the world.^[9]

Since his capture Öcalan has been held under solitary confinement as the only prisoner on the İmralı Island in the Turkish Sea of Marmara. Despite the fact that all other prisoners formerly at İmralı were transferred to other prisons, there are still over 1000 Turkish military personnel stationed there guarding him. He was sentenced to death, but this sentence was commuted to life-long aggravated imprisonment when the death penalty was abolished in Turkey in August 2002.[2]

Since his imprisonment there have been long running campaigns by Kurdish exile groups and others in various countries demanding his release although most observers regard this as extremely unlikely to happen in the forseeable future given the attitude of the Turkish authorities and large sections of the Turkish public. Indeed the decision not to proceed with the death sentence was met by protests by Turkish nationalist groups this is in sharp contrast to the view taken by Kurdish activists who regard him as their leader, a political prisoner and even a man of peace.

Recently there have been claims of a conspiricy by the prison authorities to poison Ocalan.^[10]

[edit] Current situation

Since his arrest, Öcalan has campaigned for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict inside the borders of Turkey.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} Öcalan called for the foundation of a "Truth and Justice Commission" by Kurdish institutions in order to investigate "war crimes" committed by PKK and Turkish security forces. A parallel structure began functioning in May 2006.^[16] In March 2005, Abdullah Öcalan released the Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan^[17] in which he asks for a border free confederation between the Kurdish regions of Turkey (called "Northwest Kurdistan" by PKK^[18]), Syria ("Small part of South Kurdistan"), Iraq ("South Kurdistan"), and Iran ("East Kurdistan"). In this zone, three bodies of law would be implemented: EU law, Turkish/Syrian/Iraqi/Iranian law and Kurdish law. This perspective was included in PKK programme following the "Refoundation Congress" in April 2005.^[19]

Since his incarceration he has significantly changed his ideology, reading Western social theorists like Murray Bookchin, Immanuel Wallerstein, Fernand Braudel,^[20] fashioned his ideal society as "Democratic-Ecological Society" (later renamed as "Democratic-Ecological-Gender Liberationist Society" as it is in the current programme of PKK) and refers to Friedrich Nietzsche as "a prophet".^[21] He also wrote books^[22] and articles^[23] on the history of pre-capitalist Mesopotamia and Abrahamic religions.

[edit] Calls for truce

Öcalan had his lawyer, Ibrahim Bilmez,^[24] release a statement 28 September 2006, calling on the PKK to declare a ceasefire and seek peace with Turkey. Öcalan's statement said, "The PKK should not use weapons unless it is attacked with the aim of annihilation," and that it is "very important to build a democratic union between Turks and Kurds. With this process, the way to democratic dialogue will be also opened".^[25]

[edit] See also

• PJAK, Iranian Kurdish resistance group inspired by philosophy of Abdullah Öcalan

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Abdullah Öcalan private Fanpage dedicated to Abdullah Öcalan, including some of his works in English
• International Pro-Öcalan-Initiative: Freedom for Öcalan - Peace in Kurdistan
• Who is Abdullah Ocalan? Article by Michael Radu
• Ocalan Apologizes Turkish Press Review, June 1, 1999
• BBC NEWS Special report: The Ocalan file November 26, 1999
• Kurdish satellite TV channel and leftwing Newspaper carrying frequent reports on the "freedom for Öcalan" Campaign.