A German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has welcomed the call of the imprisoned PKK founder, Abdullah Öcalan, to lay down arms and dissolve the PKK.
The government’s spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, stated on Thursday that the PKK is a prohibited terrorist organization in Germany and its fight has already claimed too many victims. Öcalan’s call now offers a chance to overcome the violent struggle and achieve a “lasting peaceful development” in the Kurdish issue.
The imprisoned PKK leader, Abdullah Öcalan, has called for the end of the armed struggle in Turkey, where the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) has been fighting for political autonomy of Kurdish regions. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, among others.
The Turkish and Kurdish communities in Germany have reacted with relief to the decision. “I find the call good. Every peace call is right in this time of war” said Gökay Sofuoglu, the chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany, to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. “We can only hope that the call will be successful and the arms will be laid down in fact.”
Sofuoglu added that the Kurdish region has known only the state of exception for around 50 years and now there is a chance for it to develop and for a possible peace to affect the entire Kurdish region. The chairman of the Turkish Community expects that a peace settlement will have an impact on life in Germany, but it may take a little longer. “Turks and Kurds understand each other well, but the gap between their organizations is relatively deep” he said, naming the PKK and the Turkish Party of Nationalist Movement (MHP) as examples of the latter.
Ali Ertan Toprak, the chairman of the Kurdish Community in Germany, also welcomed the call. “That takes away a weapon from the Turkish hand, with which it has been suppressing and criminalizing the entire Kurdish people” he said to the RND. “Because every Kurd who has entered the democratic rights has been treated as a terrorist, regardless of whether he was a member of the PKK or not. I, for example, have not been able to enter Turkey for ten years, although I have no connection with the PKK.”
Toprak said further that now Germany must contribute to the recognition and respect of the democratic and cultural rights of the Kurds by Turkey. The PKK ban no longer makes sense under these circumstances. Additionally, Germany must urge Turkey not to constantly attack the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds must have the opportunity to stand up for their cultural and political rights in all countries where they live.
Approximately 2.7 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany, of whom at least 1.2 million are Turkish people of Kurdish origin, according to the Kurdish Community.