Öcalan moves to new İmralı quarters as DEM says Turkey's PKK peace process has stalled

Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has moved into a newly built section of the İmralı island prison, members of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party said over the weekend. The party presented the move as a reason for the state to speed up a peace process that its own negotiators now describe as stalled. On Monday, November 2, DEM's two co-chairs took that message to a vigil by the "Peace Mothers" in central Ankara and promised to push for faster steps.

The move matters because Öcalan's conditions and title have become the main open question in the effort to end a conflict that began in 1984. The PKK announced its dissolution in May 2025. Parliament passed a framework law in August 2026. But the law says nothing about Öcalan himself, and the parties that back the process disagree about whether he should receive any formal role.

This report covers what DEM officials said between Saturday, October 31, and Monday, November 2, how the governing parties and the nationalist opposition have framed the status question, and what remains unknown. No government or Justice Ministry statement on the move had been published by the time of writing.

What DEM's İmralı delegation said

Mithat Sancar, a DEM lawmaker from Şanlıurfa and a member of the party's İmralı delegation, announced the move in an interview with Medya Haber TV, a Kurdish channel, on Saturday. "Mr. Öcalan has moved to his new residence," he said, according to DW Türkçe. He said the new space sits "within the same complex" and was built so that Öcalan's working and living conditions would suit what Sancar called his role as a "Peace and Politicization Coordinator."

Sancar said the delegation had held its meetings with Öcalan in that building for seven or eight months. Until now, he said, Öcalan had refused to move in. "Mr. Öcalan was saying, 'Let this be given a name, then I will move,'" Sancar told the channel, as quoted by DW. "Now that we have reached the stage of naming it, he agreed to move there." 567politics could not independently confirm when the move took place. Sözcü reported that Sancar did not give a date or describe the building.

Sancar argued that the move should be matched by the state. "Mr. Öcalan agreeing to move there requires an acceleration," he said, in the words Sözcü quoted. He told the channel that the process had paused for about two months. "There were certain dates. They did not happen," he said, according to BBC Türkçe. He also said the next meeting of the National Security Council should issue the formal finding that the PKK has disarmed. "Delaying it further will create more distrust and unease," he said, according to DW.

Pervin Buldan, a DEM lawmaker from Van and another member of the delegation, spoke on Sunday at a conference in Ankara titled "Women Side by Side Talk About the Future." She played down the change. "This new place is part of the prison. It is not somewhere outside the prison," she said, as quoted by Sözcü. She said it was more accurate to describe it as "a space that only arranges his working conditions a little," according to DW.

Buldan said the question of status could not be settled by the move alone. "Mr. Öcalan is waiting to work as Peace and Politicization Coordinator. This definition has not yet happened," she said, according to DW. She also said there had been no meeting with Öcalan since the delegation's last visit. "There is a blockage," she said, according to BBC Türkçe.

She listed other requests that have not been met. Öcalan, she said, wants to meet women's groups, journalists and academics, but "for two years none of this has happened. Only a political delegation goes, we go." Buldan added that earlier ideas floated by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, such as a "right to hope" for prisoners serving life terms and an invitation for Öcalan to address parliament, are "no longer discussed," Sözcü reported.

Co-chairs join the Peace Mothers

On Monday, DEM co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan visited the Peace Mothers, a group of women who lost children in the conflict. The mothers had begun a two-day vigil in Kurtuluş Park in Ankara, T24 reported.

In a statement read with the co-chairs, the mothers said steps had been taken toward laying down arms and withdrawing, "but the state has not responded in kind," according to T24. They asked that no more lives be lost.

Bakırhan accepted part of that criticism. "Yes, I agree with you, it is moving a little slowly, but we promise we will speed it up," he said. He called on "government officials and political parties" to listen to the mothers. Hatimoğulları told them, "We will definitely bring peace to this country and these lands."

The vigil is a small event, and it does not show how the wider public views the process. 567politics found no recent representative poll on Öcalan's status, so this report does not describe public opinion.

What the framework law does and does not say

The law at the center of the process is the Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration, known in Turkey as the "framework law." It took effect on August 18, 2026. The government calls the broader effort "Terror-free Türkiye." DEM calls it the "Peace and Democratic Society Process." This report uses both names where they come from each side.

According to DW's summary, the law lets prosecutions, trials and the carrying out of sentences against PKK members be postponed. That happens only after two steps. Security bodies must first establish that the PKK and linked groups have ended their actual existence and handed over all weapons under their control. The National Security Council must then confirm that finding. Hürriyet Daily News has described the postponements as lasting five to 10 years for certain members.

The law does not contain any clause on Öcalan, DW noted. That gap is why the move to a new building has drawn so much attention.

The government side of the process is run by a coordination council chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz. It was formed on August 24 and has four subcommissions, covering legal affairs, monitoring and verification, social integration, and disarmament and strategic coordination, Cumhuriyet reported. The council has met twice, on August 24 and September 28, according to TV5.

1. 2025-02-27Öcalan calls on the PKK to disband
2. 2025-05-12The PKK announces its dissolution
3. 2026-08-18The framework law takes effect
4. 2026-08-24Vice President Yılmaz's coordination council first meets
5. 2026-09-28The council meets again and sets up subcommissions
6. 2026-10-31DEM's Mithat Sancar says Öcalan has moved to the new building
7. 2026-11-02DEM co-chairs join the Peace Mothers' vigil in Ankara

Source: BBC Türkçe, DW Türkçe, TV5

Parliament's planned monitoring commission

Parliament is also expected to set up its own body. Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said in October that a new monitoring commission would include every party with a group in parliament. "The process of emptying the caves, abandoning weapons and laying down arms continues on its own path," he said, according to TV5.

The size of that commission was still under discussion. The governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) and DEM met in parliament on October 8 to discuss it, Hürriyet Daily News reported. The AKP delegation included deputy chair Efkan Ala, spokesman Ömer Çelik and group chair Abdullah Güler. Buldan and Sancar attended for DEM. No final decision on membership was announced.

Officials have also pointed to activity outside Turkey. TV5 reported that some caves used by the PKK in the Metina area of northern Iraq had been emptied and weapons handed to state bodies. DW cited Turkish security sources as saying four PKK sheltering areas in northern Iraq had been vacated. 567politics has not seen independent verification of those reports. For background on the two neighbors, see our Iraq and Türkiye comparison.

Bakırhan said in October that, based on information from the field, the PKK would complete an important disarmament stage by November 27, TV5 reported. He pointed to a National Security Council meeting due at the end of November. Yılmaz, for his part, has said it would not be right to give a firm date for the council's confirmation, according to the same report.

The status question

The dispute over Öcalan's role predates the move. In September, journalist Nagehan Alçı said Bahçeli had told her that a house with a garden had been built for Öcalan on İmralı, and that Öcalan had refused to move in. "'Because he wants status,' he said," Alçı recounted, according to T24. Alçı said Bahçeli told her Öcalan wanted to move only after the councils set up under the law began work and he had started serving on them.

Bahçeli later went further in public. On October 10, at the opening of his party's political school, he said "the political coordinator role in the peace process is also the right of the person on İmralı," Sözcü reported. He said "Terror-free Türkiye" had become state policy, run through the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, and that there could be no turning back.

The AKP has been more cautious. AKP sources told Cumhuriyet in September that Öcalan would not receive an official post or status, though he might contribute indirectly to the disarmament subcommission if needed. AKP spokesman Ömer Çelik said on September 10 that people could benefit from the law only "after the dissolution and liquidation process is completed," according to CNN Türk. He also said "Terror-free Türkiye" and a "terror-free region" were intertwined, and noted that the Syrian Democratic Forces had dissolved in Syria. See our Syria and Türkiye comparison for basic data on that neighbor.

The İYİ (Good) Party, a nationalist opposition party, rejects any special arrangement. Its leader, Müsavat Dervişoğlu, said in September that the law on carrying out sentences, Law No. 5275, sets the rules for prisoners serving aggravated life terms. "No one can be subjected to treatment harsher than the law provides," he said, according to Karar. "But the same principle means a lighter, more privileged regime cannot be applied arbitrarily either." He argued that a convict serving on official councils "clearly contradicts the spirit" of the law.

567politics did not find a statement from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) on the move between October 31 and November 2. Its absence from this report reflects that search, not a known position.

A note on language

Turkish outlets describe Öcalan in sharply different terms. Many Turkish papers, including Sözcü, call him the "terrorist chief." DEM officials call him "Mr. Öcalan." This report uses his name and his title as PKK founder. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, as Al Jazeera notes. Our editorial standards explain how we handle loaded labels and attribute contested claims.

The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, Al Jazeera reported. Kurds make up an estimated 15 to 20 percent of Turkey's population, according to the same report. Öcalan has been held on İmralı, in the Sea of Marmara, since his capture in 1999.

What is known and what is not

Several points rest on the account of one side. The claim that Öcalan has moved comes from DEM lawmakers. Al Jazeera reported that Buldan said Öcalan himself had announced the move. The Justice Ministry, which runs the prison system, had not commented publicly as of Monday night, Eastern Time. The building's layout is known only from Alçı's account of what Bahçeli told her: a two-story structure with an office below and living space above, set inside a walled garden.

It is also unclear what the "dates" Sancar mentioned were, or who set them. DEM has not published a list. The government has not published one either.

The next stage depends on a few concrete steps. The first is whether security bodies report, and the National Security Council confirms, that the PKK has disarmed. The second is whether parliament agrees on the membership of the monitoring commission. The third is whether the government gives Öcalan any defined role, as DEM and Bahçeli want and as the AKP and İYİ have resisted.

Other Turkish politics today

The peace process is not the only issue before Ankara this week. A widening prosecution over collapsed investment funds reached the head of Borsa İstanbul. See our report on the fund probe and the arrest request for the former exchange chief. Bahçeli, who has backed the peace effort, has also urged critics not to accuse ministers in that case before the courts rule.

Differing perspectives

Should Abdullah Öcalan be given a defined role in Türkiye's PKK disarmament process, and how fast should the process move?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Apply the sentencing law with no special regime

  Who holds it: İYİ Party leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu

  The rules for prisoners serving aggravated life terms are set by the penal code and Law No. 5275. No prisoner may be treated more harshly than the law allows, and by the same principle no one may receive a lighter or privileged regime at will. A house beyond what the law provides, or a seat on official councils for a convict, would amount to bargaining rather than the rule of law.

  In their words: Karar, quoting Müsavat Dervişoğlu ↗

• Name Öcalan coordinator and speed up the process

  Who holds it: DEM Party, including İmralı delegation members Mithat Sancar and Pervin Buldan and co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan

  The Kurdish movement has taken its steps: the PKK dissolved and began disarming, and Öcalan has now agreed to move to the new building. The state should respond in kind. The process needs Öcalan to coordinate it as a Peace and Politicization Coordinator, with the ability to meet women's groups, journalists and academics. The National Security Council should confirm disarmament at its next meeting, because further delay breeds distrust.

  In their words: DW Türkçe, quoting Mithat Sancar and Pervin Buldan ↗

• No formal status; benefits only after dissolution

  Who holds it: Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Ömer Çelik and AKP sources cited by Cumhuriyet

  Parliament passed the framework law by a large vote, and the vice president's council now monitors disarmament, dissolution and liquidation in an orderly way. The law can be applied only once that dissolution and liquidation are complete. Work with Iraqi counterparts and other neighbors continues because the domestic and regional tracks are linked. Party sources say Öcalan is not expected to receive an official post, though he may contribute indirectly to disarmament if needed.

  In their words: CNN Türk, quoting Ömer Çelik ↗

• Recognize a coordinator role within state policy

  Who holds it: Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli

  Terror-free Türkiye is now state policy, carried out by the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, and there is no turning back. The Turkish state owns the issue. Giving the person on İmralı the title of political coordinator would accept his statements that the group should dissolve, lay down arms and give up violence. Society should then fully support the state in continuing this policy.

  In their words: Sözcü, quoting Devlet Bahçeli ↗