Shafaq News– Ankara

Turkiye’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir is preparing to host a march calling for the release of the imprisoned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, according to the march’s organizers.

The planned march sought Ocalan’s release under what organizers describe as the “right to hope,” coinciding with a “historic” phase in peace talks between the Turkish state and the PKK, which Ankara designates a terrorist organization, more than a year after the process began.

Organizers insisted the march would proceed despite mounting opposition, framing Ocalan’s release as essential to what they describe as “historic justice and brotherhood between Kurds and Turks.”

The demonstration is backed by the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), the third-largest bloc in Turkiye’s parliament and the main pro-Kurdish political force in the country. Party officials argue that granting Ocalan the “right to hope” would unlock the final steps needed to dissolve the PKK and end armed conflict.

The concept refers to European legal standards requiring that life sentences include the possibility of review after a fixed period. Turkiye is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, and the European Court has ruled that irreducible life sentences violate human rights norms. The principle was publicly referenced in October 2024 by Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), when he urged Ocalan to engage with the peace process.

Bahceli has since distanced himself from calls for Ocalan’s release, while maintaining support for holding the march itself. He warned that pressing for Ocalan’s freedom at this stage could “slow or obstruct” negotiations. In a statement issued days ahead of the planned rally —titled “Freedom and Hope”— Bahceli said he had no objection to public assembly but cautioned against sidelining Ocalan’s Feb-27 appeal.

In a widely publicized message last year, Ocalan urged his organization to move toward a political settlement but did not explicitly ask for his release. Nonetheless, DEM Party officials and senior PKK figures have continued to argue that freeing him is necessary to complete the disarmament and dissolution process.

Organizers later announced that the march had been postponed indefinitely due to severe weather conditions. Heavy snowfall across Diyarbakir and surrounding provinces over recent days forced school closures and road shutdowns, making the event logistically unfeasible.

The initiative triggered strong backlash across Turkiye’s political spectrum, led by nationalist and right-wing parties that argue the demand risks destabilizing an already fragile process. Nationalist IYI Party sought permission to stage a counter-demonstration in Ankara under the slogan “No Amnesty for Child Killers,” a request authorities rejected. Turkish media also quoted former chief prosecutor Bulent Yuceturk as saying the Diyarbakir march would violate Turkish law and rulings by the European Court of Human Rights.

The peace initiative aims to dissolve the PKK, disarm its fighters, and integrate them into Turkiye’s political system, alongside legal reforms addressing equality, justice, and Kurdish-language rights.

Read more: PKK calls it quits: Peace on the horizon in Turkiye?