Kurdistan MP Nominates Ocalan For Nobel Prize

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a parliamentarian of the Kurdish Change Movement (Gorran). However, the Nobel Foundation says that its nominees would not be disclosed for at least five decades.

“I contacted the Nobel Foundation's committee for the Peace Prize via email on July 18, 2013 and suggested Abdullah Ocalan receive the peace prize,” said Gorran MP Heval Kwetsani.

"On April 9, 2014, I received the letter of assurance from the committee, saying the person I had nominated for the peace prize has been added to the list of the candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize," he added.

The Gorran MP said that before he started the nomination process he visited South Africa in 2013 to seek Nelson Mandela’s support. “But when I arrived in South Africa, Mr. Mandela had been hospitalized due to a coma."

Many observers have drawn similarities between the South African leader and Ocalan, due to their struggles and serving jail time on island prisons. Despite being in prison, Ocalan has held indisputable leadership and clout over the party he founded in the early 1980s. This compelled the Turkish government to start secret negotiations with him in the hope of an end to decades of Kurdish insurgency in the country's Kurdish-dominated southeast.

The reports of Ocalan's nomination for the Peace Prize stirred up controversy in the Turkish media, prompting an inquiry to the Nobel Institute for confirmation. "The Nobel Institute said it can't disclose the nominees for at least 50 years after their nomination, so it can neither confirm nor deny the reports," the Dogan news agency quoted an official as saying from the Foundation.

According to Kwetsani, his decision to nominate Ocalan came in 2013, after a close study of Ocalan's life and actions. He concluded that “fundamental changes had occurred in Ocalan’s  political ideology, philosophy and vision about the national struggle and the issues in the region."

The Kurdish politician argued: "The fundamental change in Ocalan's ideology came about after his arrest, which also can be found in the letter he sent to Nelson Mandela, stating that he would repudiate armed struggle and use peaceful means."

Ocalan fled to Kenya in 1998, after being refused asylum in several European countries. He was kidnapped by Turkish agents in Nairobi, in an operation that many believe also involved US and Israeli cooperation.

"The nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize has to have an influential role in disarming, or stabilizing peace. Ocalan's public message in 2013 revealed the change in his ideology; he talked about the start of political struggle and disarming."

Asked why he did not nominate one of the Kurdish leaders from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Kwetsani explained: "I have respect for all other Kurdish leaders, but the person who is being nominated has to have played a role in disarming."

On March 4, the institute announced that 278 candidates, including 47 organizations, have been nominated for the 2014 prize. But its director, Geir Lundestad, said the committee would narrow down the list for dozens of candidates by April.

Many of Ocalan’s followers, and Kurds from all parts of Kurdistan, believe that the PKK leader deserves the prize, especially after his historic initiative to reach a peaceful settlement with Turkey last year. That led to the calmest year in Turkey in the past three decades.