Ankara – Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has addressed a direct message to Kurds in Syria, urging them to engage with the Syrian interim government and pursue a political understanding, rather than relying on external actors or continuing armed struggle.
Öcalan said dialogue with Damascus represents the most viable path to securing Kurdish rights and avoiding further conflict, while stressing that he does not support the establishment of an independent Kurdish state.
The remarks were contained in the official minutes of a meeting held on 24 November 2025 between Öcalan and a parliamentary delegation at İmralı Island prison. The full transcript was published nearly two months later on the Turkish parliament’s official website. The delegation included representatives from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party.
According to the transcript, Öcalan warned that Kurds in Syria should not become “tools of Israel or any other external power” in efforts to establish an independent state. Instead, he advocated what he described as “local democracy” – a model based on broad powers for local administrations and municipalities within the framework of the Syrian state.
Öcalan also said he was prepared to communicate directly with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi to persuade him to engage in this approach and accept a political settlement under Syrian state authority. He argued that such a step could help bring an end to the conflict in north-eastern Syria.
In a related context, Öcalan stated that he had called on the PKK during 2025 to lay down its arms, noting that compliance had reached approximately 70 per cent. He added that completing this process, including on the Syrian front, would require opening “channels of communication” with him to ensure organisational discipline and to convince all parties to abandon armed action.
Members of the parliamentary delegation, for their part, told Öcalan that both the state and the public were expecting tangible and practical steps. They stressed that disarmament must include the PKK’s presence in Syria, not only in Turkey, warning that failure to seize the opportunity could lead to a serious deterioration in conditions, particularly in Syria.
Öcalan expressed readiness to move forward with a political solution, asserting his continued influence over the PKK and the broader Syrian scene, provided he is granted the opportunity for dialogue, meetings, and steps towards his release. The delegation, meanwhile, emphasised the state’s seriousness about the process, conditional on a final and unconditional end to armed activity.
