Concerns over Turkey’s restrictions on jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan

Abdullah Öcalan ( ; Turkish: ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in ; for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant (PKK).

Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He helped found the PKK in 1978, and led it into the in 1984. For most of his leadership, he was based in Syria, which provided to the PKK until the late 1990s.

After being forced to leave Syria, Öcalan was abducted by the (MIT) in , Kenya in February 1999 and imprisoned on in Turkey, where after he was sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed organizations. The sentence was commuted to aggravated life imprisonment when Turkey . From 1999 until 2009, he was the sole prisoner in in the , where he is still held.

Öcalan has advocated for a political solution to the conflict since the . has oscillated between long periods of isolation during which he is allowed no contact with the outside world, and periods when he is permitted visits. He was also involved in negotiations with the Turkish government that led to a temporary in 2013. In February 2025, he issued a statement from prison calling on the PKK to disarm and disband itself, after which the group's leadership declared a unilateral ceasefire.

From prison, Öcalan has published several books. , also known as the science of women, is a form of advocated by Öcalan and subsequently a fundamental tenet of the (KCK). Öcalan's philosophy of is applied in the (DAANES), an autonomous formed in Syria in 2012.

Öcalan was born in Ömerli, a village in , in eastern Turkey. While some sources report his date of birth as 4 April 1949, no official birth records exist. He has claimed not to know exactly when he was born, estimating the year to be 1946 or 1947. He is the oldest of seven children. He attended elementary school in a neighboring village and wanted to join the . He applied to the military high school but failed in the admission exam. In 1966 he began to study at a vocational high school in (: Ankara Tapu-Kadastro Meslek Lisesi) and attended meetings of anti-communists but also of circles active in left wing politics interested in improving Kurdish rights. He was also a very conservative Muslim in his youth and he admired . After graduating in 1969, Öcalan began working at the Office of . It was at this time his political affiliation began to reform. He was relocated one year later to Istanbul where he participated in the meetings of the (DDKO). Later, he entered the but after the first year transferred to to study political science.

His return to Ankara was facilitated by the state in order to divide the (Revolutionary Youth Federation of Turkey), of which Öcalan was a member. President later regretted this decision, since the PKK was to become a much greater threat to the state than Dev-Genç.

Öcalan was not able to graduate from Ankara University, as on 7 April 1972 he was arrested after participating in a rally against the killing of . He was charged with distributing the left-wing political magazine Şafak (published by ) and was held for seven months at the Prison. In November 1973, the Ankara Democratic Association of Higher Education, (Ankara Demokratik Yüksek Öğrenim Demeği,  []) was founded and shortly after he was elected to join its board. In the ADYÖD several students close to the political views of were active. In December 1974, ADYÖD was closed down. In 1975, together with and  [], he published a political booklet which described the main aims for a Revolution in Kurdistan. During meetings in Ankara between 1974 and 1975, Öcalan and others came to the conclusion that was a and preparations ought to be made for a revolution. The group decided to disperse into the different towns in in order to set up a base of supporters for an armed revolution. At the beginning, this idea had only a few supporters, but following a journey Öcalan made through the cities of , , , , and in 1977, the group counted over 300 adherents and had organised about thirty armed militants.

In 1978, in the midst of the right- and left-wing conflicts which culminated in the , Öcalan founded the (PKK). In July 1979 he fled to Syria.

Since its foundation, the party focused on ideological training. , the history and estate of Kurdistan had a central role in the party. Öcalan elaborated on the importance of ideology to the extent to where he condemned ideologylessness and equated ideology with religion which according to him had replaced the latter. "If you break the link between yourself and ideology you will beastialize". With the support of the Syrian Government, he established two training camps for the PKK in Lebanon where the Kurdish guerrillas should receive political and military training.

In of armed conflict by attacking government forces in order to create an independent Kurdish state. Öcalan attempted to unite the Kurdish liberation movements of the PKK and the one active against in Iraq. In negotiations between the (KDP) and the PKK, it was agreed that the latter was able to move freely in . He also met twice with , the leader of the KDP in , to resolve some minor issues they had once in 1984 and another time in 1985. But due to pressure from Turkey the cooperation remained timid. During an interview he gave to the Turkish in 1988, he mentioned the goal wasn't to gain independence from Turkey at all costs, but remained firm on the issue of the Kurdish rights, and suggested that negotiations should take place for a federation to be established in Turkey. In 1988, he also met with of the (PUK) in Damascus, with which he signed an agreement and after some differences after the foundation of a Kurdish Government in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1992 he later had a better relationship.

In the early 1990s, interviews given to both and Hasan Bildirici he mentioned his willingness to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict. In another given to , he emphasized the difference between independence and separatism. He articulated the view that different nations were able to live in independence within the same state if they had equal rights. Then in 1993, upon request of Turkish president , Öcalan met with Jalal Talabani for negotiations following which which had a duration from 20 March to 15 April. Later he prolonged it in order to enable negotiations with the Turkish government. Soon after Özal died on 17 April 1993, the initiative was halted by Turkey on the grounds that Turkey did not negotiate with terrorists. During an International Kurdish Conference in in March 1994, his initiative for equal rights for Kurds and Turks within Turkey was discussed. It is reported by Gottfried Stein, that at least during the first half of the 1990s, he used to live mainly in a protected neighborhood in Damascus. On 7 May 1996, in the midst of another unilateral cease-fire declared by the PKK, an attempt to assassinate him in a house in Damascus, was unsuccessful.

Following the protests which arose against the prohibition of the PKK in Germany, Öcalan had several meetings with politicians from Germany who came to hold talks with him. In the summer of 1995 the president of the (Verfassungsschutz) Klaus Grünewald came to visit him, And with the German MP of the (CDU) he held meetings in October 1995 in and March 1996, during which they discussed the PKK's activities in Germany. Öcalan assured him that the PKK would support a peaceful solution for the conflict. Back in Germany, Lummer made a statement in support for further negotiations with Öcalan. With time, the United States (1997), , , Turkey, and have included the PKK on their lists of terrorist organizations. A delegation from the came to visit him in the on 17 October 1996. During his stay in Syria he has published several books concerning the Kurdish revolution. On at least one occasion, in 1993, he was detained and held by Syria's , but later released. Until 1998, Öcalan was based in Syria. As the situation deteriorated in Turkey, the Turkish government openly threatened Syria over its support for the PKK. As a result, the Syrian government forced Öcalan to leave the country but still refused turning him over to the Turkish authorities. In October 1998, Öcalan prepared for his departure from Syria and during a meeting in , he unsuccessfully attempted to lay the foundations for a new party which failed due to Syrian intelligence's obstruction.

Öcalan left Syria on 9 October 1998 and for the next four months, he toured several European countries advocating for a solution of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. Öcalan first went to Russia where the voted on 4 November 1998 to grant him asylum. On 6 November 109 invited Öcalan to stay in Greece, a move which was repeated by  [], the deputy speaker of the at the time. Öcalan then chose to travel to , where he landed on 12 November 1998 at the in .

In 1998 the Turkish government requested the extradition of Öcalan from Italy, where he applied for political asylum upon his arrival. He was detained by the Italian authorities due to an arrest warrant issued by Germany. But Italy did not extradite him to Germany, who refused to hold a trial on Öcalan in its country. The German chancellor as well as the Minister of the Interior preferred that Öcalan would be tried by an unspecified "European Court". Italy also didn't extradite him to Turkey. The Italian prime minister announced it was contrary to Italian law to extradite someone to a country where the defendant is threatened with a capital punishment. But Italy also didn't want Öcalan to stay, and pulled several diplomatic strings to compel him to leave the country, which was accomplished on 16 January when he departed to in hope to find a safe haven in Russia. But in Russia he was not as much welcomed as in October, and he had to wait for a week at the airport of in Nizhny Novgorod. From Russia, he took an airplane from to Greece where he arrived in upon the invitation of , a retired Admiral on 29 January 1999. He spent the night as a guest of the popular Greek author in .

Following this, Öcalan attempted to travel to , to pursue a settlement of his legal situation at the , but the would not let his plane land and sent him back to Greece where he landed on the island in the . Öcalan then decided to fly to at the invitation of Greek diplomats. At that time he was defended by , a high-profile German attorney who argued that the crimes he was accused of would have to be proven in court and attempted to reach that the International Court in would assume the case.

Öcalan was abducted in Kenya on 15 February 1999, while on his way from the Greek embassy to in Nairobi, in an operation by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (: Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı , MIT) with the help of the . According to the Turkish newspaper , the Americans transferred him to the Turkish authorities, who flew him back to Turkey for trial.

Following his capture, the Greek Government was in turmoil and Foreign Minister , Interior Minister and the Minister of Public Order resigned from their posts. Costoulas, the Greek ambassador who protected him, said that his own life was in danger after the operation. According to Nucan Derya, Öcalan's interpreter in , the Kenyans had warned the Greek ambassador that "something" might happen if he didn't leave four days prior and that they were given the assurance by Pangalos that Öcalan would have safe passage to Europe. Öcalan was determined to travel to and face the accusations of terrorism. Öcalan's capture led thousands of Kurds to hold condemning his capture at Greek and Israeli embassies. Kurds living in Germany were threatened with deportation if they continued to hold demonstrations in support of Öcalan. The warning came after three Kurds were killed and 16 injured during the on the Israeli in Berlin. A group named the Revenge Hawks of Apo set fire to a department store in Istanbul, causing the death of 13 people. In several European capitals and larger cities as well as in Iraq, and also Turkey protests were organized against his capture.

He was brought to island, where he was interrogated for a period of 10 days without being allowed to see or speak to his lawyers. A consisting of one military and two civilian judges was established on İmralı island to try Öcalan. A delegation of three Dutch lawyers who intended to defend him were not allowed to meet with their client and detained for questioning at the airport on the grounds that they acted as "PKK militants" and not lawyers; they were sent back to the . On the seventh day a judge took part in the interrogations, and prepared a transcript of it. The trial began on 31 May 1999 on the İmralı island in the , and was organized by the Ankara State Security Court. During the trial, he was represented by the . His lawyers had difficulty in representing him adequately as they were allowed only two interviews per week of initially a duration of 20 minutes, and later 1 hour, of which several were cancelled due to "bad weather" or because the authorities didn't give the permission needed for them. Also his lawyers were unaware of what the charges might be, and received the formal indictment only after excerpts of it were already presented to the press. The trial was accompanied by arrests of scores of Kurdish politicians from the (HADEP). In mid-June 1999, the approved the removal of military judges from the State Security Courts, in an attempt to address criticism from the and a civilian judge assumed the post of the military judge. Shortly before the verdict was read out by Judge , when asked about his final remarks, he again offered to play a role in the peace finding process. Öcalan was charged with treason and separatism and sentenced to death on 29 June 1999. He was also banned from holding public office for life.

On the same day, (AI) demanded a re-trial and (HRW) questioned the fact that witnesses brought by the defense were not heard in the trial. In 1999 the discussed a so-called Repentance Bill which would commute Öcalans death sentence to 20 years imprisonment and allow PKK militants to surrender with a limited amnesty, but it didn't pass due to resistance from the far-right around the (MHP). In January 2000 the Turkish government declared the death sentence was delayed until the (ECHR) reviewed the verdict. Upon the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey in August 2002, in October of that year, the security court commuted his sentence to .

In an attempt to reach a verdict which was more favorable to Öcalan, he appealed at the ECHR at , which accepted the case in June 2004. In 2005, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated articles 3, 5, and 6 of the by refusing to allow Öcalan to appeal his arrest and by sentencing him to death without a fair trial. Öcalan's request for a retrial was refused by Turkish courts.

After his capture, Öcalan was held in solitary confinement as the only prisoner on İmralı island in the . Following the commutation of the death sentence to a life sentence in 2002, Öcalan remained imprisoned on İmralı, and was the sole inmate there. Although former prisoners at were transferred to other prisons, more than 1,000 Turkish military personnel were stationed on the island to guard him. In November 2009, Turkish authorities announced that they were ending his solitary confinement by transferring several other prisoners to İmralı. They said that Öcalan would be allowed to see them for ten hours a week. The new prison was built after the Council of Europe's visited the island and objected to the conditions in which he was being held. From 27 July 2011 until 2 May 2019 his lawyers have not been allowed to see Abdullah Öcalan. From July 2011 until December 2017 his lawyers filed more than 700 appeals for visits, but all were rejected.

There have been held regular demonstrations by the Kurdish community to raise awareness of the isolation of Öcalan. In October 2012 several hundred Kurdish political prisoners went on hunger strike for better detention conditions for Öcalan and the right to use the Kurdish language in education and jurisprudence. The hunger strike lasted 68 days until Öcalan demanded its end. Öcalan was banned from receiving visits almost two years from 6 October 2014 until 11 September 2016, when his brother Mehmet Öcalan visited him for . In 2014 the ECHR ruled in that there was a violation of article 3 in regards of him being to only prisoner on İmarli island until 17 November 2009, as well as the impossibility to appeal his verdict. On 6 September 2018 visits from lawyers were banned for six months due to former punishments he received in the years 2005–2009, the fact that the lawyers made their conversations with Ocalan public, and the impression that Öcalan was leading the PKK through communications with his lawyers. He was again banned from receiving visits until 12 January 2019 when his brother was permitted to visit him a second time. His brother said his health was good. The ban on the visitation of his lawyers was lifted in April 2019, and Öcalan saw his lawyers on 2 May 2019.

On 27 February 2025, Öcalan issued a message from prison calling for the PKK to hold a congress dissolving itself and lay down its weapons. In response, the PKK announced that it had begun a ceasefire on 1 March.

In 2008, the Justice Minister of Turkey, , said that between 2006 and 2007, 949 people were convicted and more than 7,000 people prosecuted for calling Öcalan "esteemed" (Sayın).

In November 1998, Öcalan elaborated on a 7-point peace plan according to which the Turkish attacks on Kurdish villages should stop, the refugees would be allowed to return, the Kurdish people would be granted autonomy within Turkey, the Kurds would receive the equal democratic rights as the Turks and the Turkish government supported village guards system shall come to an end and the Kurdish language and culture was to be officially recognized. In January 1999 during his stay in Europe, Öcalan saw the parties liberation struggle focus to have developed from guerrilla warfare to dialogue and negotiations. After his capture Öcalan called for a halt in PKK attacks, and advocated for a peaceful solution for the Kurdish conflict inside the borders of Turkey.^[] In October 1999, eight PKK militants around the former European PKK spokesman Ali Sapan turned themselves in to Turkey on request of Öcalan. Depending on their treatment, the other PKK militants would turn themselves in as well, his attorney announced. But the eight, as well as another group which surrendered a few weeks later in Istanbul, were imprisoned and the peace initiative was dismissed by the Turkish Government. Öcalan called for the foundation of a "Truth and Justice Commission" by Kurdish institutions in order to investigate committed by both the PKK and Turkish security forces. A similar structure began functioning in May 2006. In March 2005, Öcalan issued the Declaration of Democratic confederalism in Kurdistan calling for a border-free confederation between the Kurdish regions of Southeastern Turkey (called "" by Kurds), Northeast Syria (""), Northern Iraq (""), and Northwestern Iran (""). In this zone, three bodies of law would be implemented: , Turkish/Syrian/Iraqi/Iranian law and Kurdish law. This proposal was adopted by the PKK programme following the "Refoundation Congress" in April 2005.

Öcalan had his lawyer Ibrahim Bilmez release a statement on 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 "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". He worked on a solution for the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, which would include a decentralization and democratization of Turkey within the frame of the , which was also signed by Turkey, but his 160-page proposal on the subject was confiscated by the Turkish authorities in August 2009.

On 31 May 2010, Öcalan said he was abandoning the ongoing dialogue with Turkey, as "this process is no longer meaningful or useful". Öcalan stated that Turkey had ignored his three protocols for negotiation: (a) his terms of health and security, (b) his release, and (c) a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. Though the Turkish government had received Öcalan's protocols, they were never released to the public. Öcalan said he would leave the top PKK commanders in charge of the conflict, but that this should not be misinterpreted as a call for the PKK to intensify its armed conflict with Turkey.

In January 2013, between the PKK and the Turkish Government were initiated and from between January and March he met several times with politicians of (BDP) on Imralı Island. On 21 March, Öcalan declared a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state. Öcalan's statement was read to hundreds of thousands of Kurds in Diyarbakır who had gathered to celebrate the Kurdish New Year (). The statement said in part, "Let guns be silenced and politics dominate... a new door is being opened from the process of armed conflict to democratization and democratic politics. It's not the end. It's the start of a new era." Soon after Öcalan's declaration, the functional head of the PKK, responded by promising to implement a ceasefire. During the peace process, the pro-Kurdish (HDP) entered parliament during the . The ceasefire ended after in July 2015 two Turkish police officers were killed in .

Since his incarceration, Öcalan has significantly changed his ideology through exposure to Western such as , and . Abandoning his old and beliefs, Öcalan fashioned his ideal society called . In early 2004, Öcalan attempted to arrange a meeting with through Öcalan's lawyers, describing himself as Bookchin's "student" eager to adapt Bookchin's thought to Middle Eastern society. Bookchin was too ill to meet with Öcalan.

is a "system of popularly elected administrative councils, allowing local communities to exercise autonomous control over their assets, while linking to other communities via a network of confederal councils." Decisions are made by communes in each neighborhood, village, or city. All are welcome to partake in the communal councils, but political participation is not mandated. There is no private property, but rather "ownership by use, which grants individuals usage rights to the buildings, land, and infrastructure, but not the right to sell and buy on the market or convert them to private enterprises". The economy is in the hands of the communal councils, and is thus (in the words of Bookchin) 'neither collectivised nor privatised - it is common.' , , and are essential in democratic confederalism.

With his 2005 "Declaration of Democratic Confederalism in Kurdistan", Öcalan advocated for a Kurdish implementation of Bookchin's via municipal assemblies as a democratic confederation of Kurdish communities beyond the state borders of Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. Öcalan promoted a platform of shared values: environmentalism, self-defense, gender equality, and a pluralistic tolerance for religion, politics, and culture. While some of his followers questioned Öcalan's conversion from to , the PKK adopted Öcalan's proposal and began to form assemblies. It became also the ideology of the (PYD) and is applied in the (AANES).

Öcalan is a supporter of the liberation of the women, he writes in his Freedom Manifesto for Women that all slavery is based on the of women. He deems the woman often as being trapped in a situation where she accepts traditional gender roles and a disadvantaged relationship with a man.

According to his own account, while his father is Kurdish, his mother is Turkmen. According to some sources, Öcalan's grandmother was an ethnic Turk. Öcalan's mother, Esma Öcalan (Uveys) was rather dominant and criticised his father, blaming him for their dire economic situation. He later explained in an interview that it was in his childhood he learned to defend himself from injustice. Like many , Öcalan was raised speaking ; according to Amikam Nachmani, lecturer at the in Israel, Öcalan did not know when he met him in 1991. Nachmani: "He [Öcalan] told me that he speaks Turkish, gives orders in Turkish, and thinks in Turkish." In 1978 Öcalan married Kesire Yildirim, who he had met at the Ankara University and was of a better household than the regular revolutionaries around Öcalan. They had a difficult marriage with reportedly many disputes and discussions. In 1988, while representing the PKK in , , his wife unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Öcalan, following which Yildirim went underground.

After his sister Havva was married to a man from another village in an , he felt regret. This event led Öcalan to his policies towards the from the traditional suppressed female role. Öcalan's brother became a PKK commander until he defected from the PKK with several others to establish the Patriotic and Democratic Party of Kurdistan. His other brother, Mehmet Öcalan, is a member of the pro-Kurdish (BDP). Fatma Öcalan is the sister of Abdullah Öcalan and , a former parliamentarian of the , is his niece. , a current member of parliament for the HDP, is his nephew.

Several localities have awarded him with an honorary citizenship:

Öcalan is the author of more than 40 books, four of which were written in prison. Many of the notes taken from his weekly meetings with his lawyers have been edited and published. He has also written articles for the newspaper which is a newspaper that reported on the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, under the pseudonym of Ali Firat.

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