Leader Ocalan: Peace process reaches to stage of legal resolution

The Al-Asr Human Rights Office today issued a statement revealing the content of the meeting between his lawyers and Leader Abdullah Ocalan, along with Hamili Yıldırım, Omar Khayri Konar, Mahmmad Yamalak, and Erçin Atabay, in Imrali Island Prison on September 15.

According to the statement, Leader Ocalan said: “The path of the peace process and democratic society has reached the stage of legal resolution.”

The statement from Al-Asr Office read as follows:

“On September 15, 2025, after six years in Imrali Prison, our lawyers met with Mr. Ocalan and the other clients. We provided him with detailed information regarding his legal status and ongoing judicial applications before both national and international mechanisms. This gave us the opportunity, after a long period, to listen to his views and proposals. We would like to emphasize that we found Mr. Abdullah Ocalan to be very strong and determined. The visit of lawyers to Imrali after 2019 was of great importance and significance. Mr. Ocalan himself attached meaning to the meeting and assessed it in this context. In his evaluations, he stated that the establishment of democratic law is a prerequisite for a normative state and one of the main goals of the process.

He pointed out that the current peace process and democratic society have reached the stage of legal resolution, adding that throughout the past hundred years, Kurds have always remained outside the scope of the law. He said he has struggled to eliminate this hostility to law. He noted that within the framework of the democratic nation, they are determined to live together and that he has a project for a democratic republic. In this context, he highlighted that the Kurdish question has many political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions. At this stage, there is a need for legal solutions, including temporary laws. He described this period as a transitional process, stating that he wants and hopes that the timing of the lawyers’ visit will be regarded as a sign of opening the door to law.

The fundamental responsibility of everyone who believes in the peace process and democratic society is to demonstrate an approach in line with Mr. Ocalan’s role and message. On this occasion, we reaffirm that the ‘right to hope,’ currently on the agenda of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, is a structural issue within Turkish law. Positive steps taken in this regard will represent a tangible step towards the establishment of democratic law. Mr. Ocalan also wishes to convey his heartfelt greetings to the political prisoners in prisons, to everyone who has inquired about him, and to all who believe in the peace process and democratic society and are striving and working on this cause.”

A-H 

ANHA