As February 15 approaches, anxiety rises among many who are uncertain about what will occur on that day. Abdullah Öcalan is anticipated to deliver a speech announcing the dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), following an invitation from Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
For the Kurds, the prevailing sentiment is to hope for the best while expecting the worst. This particular mindset developed following the failure of the first PKK peace process, known as “Çözüm süreci.” Afterward, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took a nationalist turn, leading to what many Kurds would agree was one of the darkest periods in Turkey since the 1980s.
Everyone was shocked when the invitation came from Devlet Bahçeli, a prominent supporter of Erdoğan’s repressive policies against the Kurds. Ümit Özdağ, a far-right figure in the Turkish opposition, was recently arrested and claimed he was being “held hostage for Öcalan.”
Political commentators generally expected that Öcalan would call for the disarmament and possibly the dissolution of the PKK in exchange for the official recognition of Kurds as an ethnic minority and the Kurdish language as a minority language, along with the possibility of an early release. Critics of Erdoğan alleged that Öcalan would also endorse Erdoğan if he were to hold a referendum on removing the constitutional limits for presidency. Some theorists also claimed that Öcalan would become a figure similar to Akhmat Kadyrov, a Chechen separatist who became a key ally of the Russian government.
February 15 is not just a rumor, but an actual date given by Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, and Murat Karayılan, the current PKK leader.