ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A senior lawmaker from Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) called for key reforms, including legal changes to allow the potential eventual release of Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader.
At the first meeting of the newly formed parliamentary commission tasked with developing the legal and political framework for peace between the PKK and the Turkish state, DEM Party lawmaker Meral Danis Bestas on Tuesday urged applying the “right to hope” legal principle to Ocalan.
This principle holds that a life sentence must include the legal possibility of eventual release, meaning a life term cannot be absolute. The 75-year-old PKK leader has been imprisoned on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999.
Referring to the principle, Bestas pointed out that [the European Court of Human Rights] ruled on March 18, 2014” that “the ‘right to hope’ must be applied in Ocalan’s case, making it a legal requirement.”
She cautioned, “Currently, we live in a political and legal climate where decisions by the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court are not being implemented.”
In October, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), also suggested Ocalan could be eligible under the “right to hope” and called for restarting the peace process between the PKK and Ankara
The DEM Party has since led renewed efforts to end the decades-long conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state, which has claimed over 40,000 lives, mainly PKK fighters. The party serves as a mediator and main communication channel between Ankara and Ocalan.
These efforts led to Ocalan’s historic call in February for the PKK to disarm, followed by a unilateral ceasefire by the group. In mid-July, 30 PKK fighters held a symbolic disarmament ceremony in the Kurdistan Region as a gesture of goodwill and commitment to peace.
Against this backdrop, a 51-member parliamentary commission was formed, including representatives from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), MHP, the DEM Party, and several smaller parties.
Alongside Ocalan’s case, Bestas highlighted the imprisonment of Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, jailed on alleged PKK links. She noted that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled multiple times against the detention of both Ocalan and Demirtas, “ordering their immediate release.”
Bestas also condemned the Turkish government’s removal of elected Kurdish mayors, replaced by appointed trustees on terrorism allegations, calling the practice “unconstitutional” and undermining Kurdish political representation.
As the commission prepares for further meetings to advance the peace process, the DEM Party emphasized on Tuesday the need for a “democratic resolution of the Kurdish issue,” highlighting the decades-long struggle for justice, equality, democracy, and peace.
“We stress that the commission’s work must proceed by prioritizing a democratic solution based on negotiation and dialogue,” the party concluded.
