Amid fragile hopes for peace and unity, Agit Karatas reflects on the Kurdish movement’s cautious optimism in the face of evolving Turkey–Öcalan talks and historic pan-Kurdish dialogue.
The enduring Kurdish question in modern international politics
There are few questions of modernity, whose lifespan stretches beyond the bounds of conventional historical frameworks while remaining a game-changing force in international politics. From the 1639 Treaty of Qasr-e-Shirin, which ended sixteen years of territorial hostilities between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, to the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which abandoned earlier promises of Kurdish statehood through secret negotiations between Turkey, the United Kingdom, and France, the Kurdish Question remains one of the largest unresolved remnants of European colonial legacies in the Middle East.
The Kurds are renowned as one of the largest stateless nations—spanning Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. In this intervention, I examine recent developments affecting Kurdish communities in Türkiye and Syria, particularly within the context of the emerging peace and reconciliation process between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
In the shadow of uncertainty, a glimpse of unity
Crafting analysis during periods of reconciliation demands care. It’s vital to acknowledge diverse perspectives while offering critical, measured commentary. Reflecting on the Kurdish-Turkish peace process today calls for cautious optimism, as each day may bring either progress or setback. I must admit that the motivation for writing this intervention stemmed from a certain moment that inspired genuine hope for the Kurdish people:
On Saturday, 26 April 2025, a historic pan-Kurdish conference titled Yekrêzi û Yekhelwesta Kurdî li Rojavayê Kurdistanê—translating to Kurdish Unity and Solidarity in Rojava, Western Kurdistan—was jointly organised by the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North East Syria (DAANES) and the Syrian Kurdish National Council (ENKS), following months of intra-Kurdish dialogue aimed at unifying a political front in negotiations with the interim government in Damascus. The conference brought together over 400 delegates from Kurdish political parties and movements across Qamishlo Province, only four kilometres from the Turkish border. Symbolically and politically, it reanimated sentiments of Kurdish unity across national borders and diasporic communities. Representatives from the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), the two dominant parties of Iraqi Kurdistan—the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)—and Türkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party stood at the forefront of what may be considered a historic moment of collective national assertion.
Rojava: an experiment in stateless democracy
The DAANES—colloquially referred to by Kurds as Rojava, meaning “West” in Kurdish and denoting western Kurdistan—has led a bold social and political experiment since the onset of the Syrian civil war. Widely regarded by international observers across ideological traditions as a beacon of hope amid regional conflict and collapse, political and military groups in the region have spent over a decade reconstructing an alternative model of governance based on grassroots democracy and a cooperative eco-social economy.
The downfall of the Assad regime in Damascus in early December last year created profound upheavals in Syria, bringing Rojava to a critical juncture. The Turkish state quickly moved to deepen ties with the interim Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government, arguably seeking to leverage the situation to intensify pressure on Syrian Kurdish groups it considers a high-level security threat due to alleged ties with the PKK. As anxiety loomed over Rojava regarding a potential military incursion by Ankara, imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan made a landmark statement from İmralı Prison Island on 27 February 2025, calling on the PKK to end its forty-year armed campaign and move toward organisational disbandment. Öcalan’s intervention sent shockwaves across the region and globally, shifting the trajectory of the decades-long Kurdish struggle for freedom and autonomy.
Intra-Kurdish unity in the context of regional political dynamics
Efforts to cultivate unity among Kurdish parties in Syria—and, more broadly, across Kurdistan—are not new. While the lack of legitimate status and representation in the international order has had tragic consequences, it has simultaneously motivated many Kurds to reimagine liberation and meaningful self-determination beyond the traditional statist paradigm. Öcalan-inspired organisations, including the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), People’s Protection Units (YPG), and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), have championed models of stateless democracy through the Rojava experiment. Meanwhile, the Barzani-led Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq has pursued autonomy within a federal framework, achieving partial recognition and diplomatic standing.
As the central fulcrum of the new “process” initiated by Turkish nationalist leader Devlet Bahçeli in October 2024, the PKK convened its 12th Congress between 5–7 May 2025 in Iraqi Kurdistan, declaring an end to the method of armed struggle and organisational disbandment, in response to Öcalan’s February call. This landmark development appears to have brought the 40-year conflict closer to a potential resolution—at least from a security perspective. The PKK’s declaration was welcomed by international stakeholders, including the United Kingdom, Germany and the United Nations, as a window of opportunity to resolve a longstanding conflict through peaceful, democratic means.
Yet many remain sceptical. There are still no legal or political guarantees for Kurdish communities in Türkiye—no amnesty provisions, no constitutional amendments securing Kurdish language and cultural rights, and no firm commitments to local self-governance.
The central demand and the road ahead for the Kurdistan Freedom Movement
In the latest release of perspectives sent to the Kurdistan Freedom Movement, imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s analyses emphasise the dialectical relationship between state and commune, the need to strengthen the latter, and the urgency of fully abandoning nationalist-statist tendencies that continue to resurface within the movement, despite its paradigm shift. He calls this a socialism of democratic societies (emphasis on the plural). In Rojava, this shift has taken form through a new model of internationalism and stateless democracy—one that continues to shape the Kurdish movement’s epistemological foundations and opens space for post-nationalist engagement with the world. Amid ongoing imprisonment in Öcalan’s case, and sustained military assaults in the movement’s broader context, both appear to be laying the groundwork for a renewed call to global solidarity. As Öcalan recently wrote: “This resolution also necessitates a new International. It would be a sound and historic step to initiate an internationalist effort with our friends—without delay.”
While the organised political body of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement recalibrates in this manner, the central demand that Ankara ensures free and secure conditions for Abdullah Öcalan through which he may assume the role of chief interlocutor in negotiations for a new era of peace and reconciliation in Türkiye remains intact. Whether this moment will mark a historical turning point depends on the sincerity of the Turkish government and the willingness of the state apparatus to move toward meaningful democratic solutions. What is certain, however, is that the Kurdish Question continues to reshape the very terms upon which peace, sovereignty, and modernity are being redefined in the 21st century Middle East.
All articles posted on this blog give the views of the author(s), and not the position of the Department of Sociology, LSE Human Rights, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Image credit: Wria Mahmood
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