Returning to Turkey after his arrest in 1999, the historic Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan said he loved his country and “would serve it if needed”. Nearly a quarter of a century later, his statement could be construed as a call for his autonomist organization to testify.

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to revive peace talks With the Kurds, along with talks in Washington about the future of Kurdish forces in neighboring Syria, supported by the US after the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al -Assad, as Bloomberg notes.

Erdogan sees an opportunity To take advantage of the turmoil and to prevent what Turkey considers as a growing threat of Kurdish nationalism in the region. If he does, he will enhance Turkey’s ambitions in the remodeling of the Middle East and its position, while seeking to “rewrite” the Constitution and extend its power.

Ocalan, who is imprisoned somewhere near Constantinople, is the “key”. He no longer leads the daily activities of the Kurdistan Labor Party, known as PKK, which is characterized as a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union, but continues to enjoy the respect of the leaders of the movement, which call him “APO”.

‘The APO leader will make an important and historical statement On February 15 which will be the beginning of an effort to resolve, “said Murat Karayillan, one of the top PKK leaders, according to Kurdish media. This is a symbolic date, as it is the anniversary of Ocalan’s arrest in Kenya.

It is not clear if Ocalan will actually make a statement this week, and even if he was negotiating an agreement he would not matter if the PKK fighters refused to sign it. The Kurdish community, after all, is cautious after 40 years of struggles to recognize its independence and its cultural rights, especially in southeastern Turkey where the Kurdish element is intense.

Erdogan has little comment on the Kurdish issue publicly publicly. But as early as October his nationalist ally, Devlet Bachselihe has stated that the 76 -year -old Ocalan must be released provided that he urges PKK leaders to deposit weapons and negotiate a political solution.

“We are ready for a permanent and radical solution,” said Tuncher Bakchery, a co -chair of the pro -Kurdish Party of Popular Equality and Democracy (DEM) last week. “We are interested in this historical appeal, and we support it.”

Kurds are almost 1/5 of Turkey’s populationamounting to 90 million. Conflicts between Turkey and Kurds resulted in tens of thousands of dead and led to the economic marginalization of the Kurdish community, which is the majority of southeastern Turkey.

The PKK wants the Turkish government to recognize the Kurdish identity and the Kurdish culture in its constitution and to allow the teaching of the Kurdish language in schools. It also requires to be recognized the right to self -determination of the Kurdsor their “democratic autonomy” as it calls it – that is, a regime that would lead to the government of Ankara of more powers to the local authorities of southeastern Turkey.

As for Erdogan, a peacekeeping agreement would provide him with the necessary support for parliament in order to change the Constitution and extend his power, which has been counting more than two decades. In the background, since the beginning of the year, a barrage of arrests and research has taken place many of which seem to be aimed at suppressing any reaction to the possibility of reconciliation with the Kurds.

Mehmet Uchum, one of Erdogan’s top advisers, said that the integration would help eliminate autonomist tendencies, while in favor of “reinforcement and permanent freedom of Kurdish”.

The resolution of the Kurdish issue had been attempted in the past. In early 2015, Erdogan, as prime minister then, and the PKK came close to reaching an agreement. However, the talks collapsed after the enhanced performance of the Kurdish parties in the June elections of that year, which resulted in Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost the majority in parliament. It was followed by a repression operation by Turkey’s security forces. In the second elections held in November, the AKP recovered the majority, while Kurdish officials’ clearance operation has intensified.

The attempted agreement, however, failed due to a lack of legal framework but also as the two sides made, according to Gulustan Kilic Kocyigit, a leading member of the pro -Kurdish DEM party, who called for Ocalan’s liberation so that he could participate in negotiations ” on equal terms. “

The difference that exists today is that Erdogan has a chance to end the Kurdish autonomous tendency. The Kurds, who own a semi -autonomous area in Iraq, are also more active in Syria after Assad’s first, as in Iran.

When talks collapsed a decade ago, most PKK fighters in Turkey left to join the YPG ranks, the organization struggling for the independence of the Syrian Kurds. The YPG joined the US leadership of the US forces that fought the Islamic State and ended up controlling about 1/3 of the country. Turkey now wants to dissolve the YPG and the PKK fighters who have joined its ranks to leave Syria.

If peace is finally reached, it will be a historic moment for Turkey. Ocalan founded the PKK in 1978 and had turned it into a guerrilla organization that numbered more than 10,000 fighters until the 1990s, while maintaining its reins until its arrest.

The Kurdish people are “excited” with the attempted effort, but they remain cautious about the Turkish government’s intention to take real measures for a real reconciliation, the Omer OcalanKurdish MP and nephew of the founder of PKK.

“There has long been the fear that teaching the Kurdish language and the recognition of disputes could undermine state unity,” he said in a telephone communication with Bloomberg last week. “If there is a historical alliance, a real solution, then our country will become a model for the region,” he added.