Öcalan's message to Syrian Kurds

What did Öcalan envision for the Syrian Kurds while calling on the PKK to disarm and disband? How would the Trump administration react? Is the Kurdish issue the new wedge between Israel and Turkey?

Öcalan’s call for the PKK to disarm and dissolve has triggered pressing questions about the Syrian Kurdish movement—specifically, the SDF, which governs Rojava and remains an offshoot of the PKK. SDF commander Mazlum Abdi, who spent his formative years alongside Öcalan and was once part of the PKK, was quick to clarify: the letter, he insisted, was directed at the PKK, not the SDF. Technically true—there was no explicit mention of the SDF in the statement. But that’s only part of the story.

SDF commander Mazlum Abdi as a child (back), with Abdullah Öcalan in the foreground. Src: DHA

Before the public reading of Öcalan’s message last week, he had already sent a separate letter to the SDF, a fact Abdi himself acknowledged. Two sources familiar with its contents say Öcalan praised the governance model in Rojava before offering strategic advice. First, he urged the SDF to establish itself as a legitimate political force within Syria—meaning institutionalizing as a political party and becomi…