Jailed PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan Releases Statement

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - FEBRUARY 27: Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party PM Sirri Sureyya Onder speaks during a press conference as they share the statement from jailed PKK militant group leader Abdullah Ocalan’s call on the PKK to disarm on February 27, 2025 in Istanbul, Turkey. DEM Party officials met with jailed PKK militant group leader Ocalan for the third time in his island prison early today. The visit is seen as part of a government bid to have Ocalan call on the PKK to disarm, potentially ending the insurgency which it launched against the Turkish state in 1984 and in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Ocalan has been held in near-total isolation on Imrali Island since 1999, with only rare communication with the outside world. Ocalan calls on PKK to dissolve, pro-Kurdish party says, potentially ending 40-year conflict. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)