As the Peace and Democratic Society Process, launched following Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s call on 27 February 2025, continues, public debate has increasingly focused on the process’s future and the reasons behind its stagnation. One of the most frequently raised questions concerns when the state will take the legal and political steps that many observers have been expecting.

 

 

Mehmet Kamaç stated that the government's reluctance to act is harming the process. Referring to steps taken by the PKK, including its dissolution decision, weapons-related measures, and withdrawal initiatives, he criticized the absence of reciprocal action from the Turkish state.

 

Kamaç said: “The process has reached a standstill because there are promises but no concrete action. This stagnation poses a risk to the process. Abdullah Öcalan and the PKK have taken all the steps they can. If the Turkish state also takes steps, the process can succeed.”

 

Kamaç noted that while conflicts continue across various parts of the Middle East, there have been no armed clashes or deaths related to the conflict in Turkey for more than a year and a half. He argued that the state’s rhetoric and practices are contradictory and suggested that the process is being used for political purposes.

 

“The Kurdish issue is an issue that transcends party politics. Society has paid a very heavy price for it. This process is a historic opportunity for the country, all parties involved, and the people. That opportunity should be seized,” he said. 

 

Kamaç stressed that the state must urgently introduce legal measures addressing issues such as the return of PKK members from the mountains, legal arrangements enabling Abdullah Öcalan to play as an effective role in the process, the ending of trustee appointments to municipalities, particularly Kurdish-majority municipalities, and the release of political prisoners.

 

MA / Fethi Balaman