As debates over the “right to hope” in international law regarding Abdullah Öcalan, who is being held in Imralı, come back to the fore, the issue is also being evaluated in connection with discussions on a possible peace process. Legal experts and politicians state that recognizing the right to hope, which refers to the possibility of Öcalan’s physical freedom, is not only a legal matter but also a significant step toward a democratic and peaceful resolution of the Kurdish question.
Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Hakkari (Colemêrg) MP Onur Düşünmez spoke to ANF and said: “Following the 27 February call, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) first declared a ceasefire and then convened its congress and dissolved itself to concretize its will for peace. This was a declaration from a fifty-year tradition of struggle stating, ‘If conditions are formed, we will now pursue political struggle.’ But what are we seeing today? The obstacles to doing politics are still in place. The public initially gave strong credit to this process, yet the state’s failure to enact even a single concrete legal regulation is seriously eroding that social trust.”
Mr. Öcalan’s freedom is a legal necessity
Onur Düşünmez pointed to the report of the Commission on National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy, which held its final meeting on 18 February 2026, and stated that legal norms cannot be made subject to political bargaining. Düşünmez said: “The commission held 21 meetings, listened to all segments of society, and identified the root causes of the issue. There is a very clear emphasis in the joint report: ‘Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Constitutional Court must be implemented.’ This directly means the ‘right to hope.’ Ensuring the working conditions of Mr. Öcalan, who has insisted on peace under heavy isolation for 27 years, and securing his physical freedom is now a legal necessity. The state’s resistance to these rulings undermines the will for peace.”
The state maintains a climate of conflict
Düşünmez stated that the state continues to maintain a dual approach of “peace at home, conflict abroad,” and said: “Thanks to the strong public support, the state was forced to refrain from appointing new trustees; however, it has not taken a step back from the municipalities that were seized. While speaking of peace on the one hand, a hostile stance toward the gains of the Kurdish people continues in foreign policy on the other. Attempts to achieve results through fabricated cases, the continued detention of prisoners as hostages, and interventions in democratic activities are not practices compatible with the language of peace. This shallow and security-oriented approach must be abandoned.”
Legal reform is essential
Onur Düşünmez stated that the process cannot be sustained through rhetoric alone and outlined the priority steps required for a lasting peace as follows: “The legal regulations required by the process must be implemented without delay, and the way should be paved for those who have laid down arms and those who were forced to leave the country for political reasons to return with dignity. Political cases open on charges such as membership in an organization must be dropped, and prisoners in jails must be released.
Different mother tongues, beliefs, and cultures must be recognized at the constitutional level, and the barriers to education in the mother tongue must be removed. Reservations placed on the European Charter of Local Self-Government must be lifted, the freedom of civil society to organize must be guaranteed, and economic inequalities between regions must be addressed.”
Those who organize more will prevail
Düşünmez also drew attention to the importance of organization despite the state’s inaction and said: “As Mr. Öcalan has also stated, ‘Those who organize more will be the ones who prevail in this process.’ We are not only waiting for the state to take steps; what is decisive is for the people to build their own communes, to ensure their unity, and to expand the struggle shoulder to shoulder with an understanding of a democratic society. We are determined to build a life in the new century in which all peoples will prevail.”