One Imprisoned Man’s Words, Two Countries at a Crossroads

The Kurdish question is a tangled web of negotiations, pressure, and power struggles between Ankara and Damascus. Will anything shift if the imprisoned leader is allowed to speak?

The relationship status of Kurds with Turkey and Syria: Extremely complicated. Love bombing, then ghosting—peppered with gaslighting.

Let’s remember: Turkey has been engaged in a negotiation process—the thing, as I’ve called it here—with Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed PKK. Calling it a peace process or a conflict resolution effort would be generous, given the circumstances. Ankara’s objective is clear: to have Öcalan call for PKK disarmament.

At the same time, Turkey is twisting Damascus’ arm, pressuring it to dismantle the autonomous cantons in Rojava (Western Kurdistan in Kurdish), which are controlled by the SDF. The SDF is led by the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK. Basic facts, but worth repeating—Kurdish politics is an abbreviation soup, and people lose track.

SDF leader Mazlum Abdi, who sees Öcalan as a father figure, has repeatedly reaffirmed his loyalty and on several occasions stated that he learned from him. But he’s also made the tangled situation …