Feminist political scientist, historian, and filmmaker Françoise Vergès has expressed her support for Abdullah Öcalan’s Call for Peace and Democratic Society. She stated that Kurds and Turks are at a historic crossroads and that “peace must be supported without hesitation.”
In her letter to the Peoples’ Party for Equality and Democracy (DEM Party), Vergès recalled the historic call made by Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan on February 27, 2025, for the dissolution of the PKK and an end to armed struggle.
The letter stated: “On February 27, 2025, Abdullah Öcalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê – PKK), made a historic call for the dissolution of the organization and an end to armed struggle. This call came after the leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, shook hands with Kurdish parliamentarians and publicly called for the dissolution of the PKK. These steps signaled the beginning of a new peace process that has raised expectations and hopes.”
Vergès recalled that this call was unanimously accepted at the 12th PKK Congress held in May, that a symbolic ceremony was held in Sulaymaniyah on July 11, where weapons were burned, and that a parliamentary commission was established to create a legal basis for peace.
The letter further stated the following: “Peace must be supported without hesitation. A lasting and just peace is not merely a respite between two wars, but a peace that guarantees social harmony and fulfills the peoples’ desire for justice and equality. Peace is the only real alternative to perpetual war and the imperialist plans of global or regional powers.
The progressive and democratic forces of the world must contribute to this historic Kurdish-Turkish alliance at the national, regional, and international levels since the current conditions have made this unity a historical necessity. As Abdullah Öcalan stated, ‘We believe in the power of democratic politics and social peace, not in violence and conflict.’ Today, in a period marked by escalating violence and genocide, the peace process in Turkey is not only necessary but also urgent.”
Françoise Vergès, one of the pioneers of anti-colonial feminism in France, is the author of A Decolonial Feminism, A Feminist History of Violence, and A Programme of Absolute Disorder. She is also a senior research fellow at the Sarah Parker Remond Center for the Study of Racism and Racialisation at University College London.