PKK terror group ringleader Ocalan reportedly seeks house arrest and marriage

Journalist Fatih Atik, speaking to Turkish media outlet TGRT Haber, has revealed that imprisoned PKK terror group ringleader Abdullah Ocalan expressed a desire to be placed under house arrest and to marry. This comes after Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli called on Ocalan to dissolve the PKK in a parliamentary speech.

TGRT Haber’s Ankara Representative Atik stated that Ocalan, now 76, conveyed his wishes to state officials during a recent meeting with the Kurdish-oriented Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) delegation. “Ocalan wants to be placed under house arrest and get married. He shared his desire to begin a new life with the authorities,” Atik reported.

This revelation follows Bahceli’s October 22 call for Ocalan to dissolve the PKK, prompting Ocalan’s first permitted visitor meetings in 43 months.

Historic milestone for Türkiye

On Dec. 28, DEM Party announced that they would begin rounds of talks in parliament after meeting with the imprisoned PKK leader Ocalan, serving a life sentence on the prison island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara.

Bahceli shocked Turkish politics on Oct. 22, when he requested that Ocalan should speak at parliament if he is willing to tell the PKK to lay down its arms and disband.

The DEM Party deputies, along the lines of Ocalan’s statement, have previously disclosed that they would not make major announcements to the press unless serious progress was noted.

DEM deputies Sirri Sureyya Onder, Ahmet Turk, and Pervin Buldan held meetings with the Speaker of Parliament Numan Kurtulmus followed by a meeting with MHP Chairman Devlet Bahceli.

The MHP and DEM Party have until recently kept their distance from each other. The DEM Party’s predecessor, the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), is facing an ongoing trial dubbed the “Kobane Trials.”

The ongoing Kobane Trials link highest-ranking members of the HDP and DEM Party to spreading domestic unrest and connections to terrorism.

The trial partially stems from events in Ayn al-Arab (also known as Kobane), Syria, in October 2014.

Bahceli’s recent shift marks a strategic domestic change in tackling the ongoing fight against the PKK. The move signals an opportunity for two major political parties, on opposite sides of the spectrum, to reach a diplomatic solution.

Türkiye’s fight against PKK terror group

The PKK — listed as a terror organization by Türkiye, the U.S., and the EU — has waged a 40-year campaign against Türkiye, responsible for over 40,000 deaths, including women, children, and the elderly.

The YPG, the PKK’s offshoot in Syria, has sought to establish a terror corridor along the Turkish border, posing a direct threat to Türkiye.

In recent years, Türkiye has deployed troops and worked with local allies, such as the Syrian National Army, to eliminate these threats and protect civilians from terrorist oppression.