Ocalan Moved to New Imrali Home as Peace Process Stalls
DEM Party’s Mithat Sancar says Abdullah Ocalan has moved to a new Imrali home, urging Türkiye to speed up the stalled PKK peace process and ease its stance.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been transferred to a new house built for him on Türkiye’s Imrali island, a member of the delegation that visits him announced in an interview, warning that the peace process now needs speed rather than delay.
Mithat Sancar, a member of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) delegation to Imrali island, said the relocation calls for accelerating the peace process, not slowing it.
Sancar said the peace process has been in a state of halt and slowdown for two months, and that steps expected to be taken at set times have not been carried out.
He said visits to Imrali should have followed the steps the PKK has taken. He also disclosed that the body due to work directly with Ocalan is called the Peace and Politicization Commission.
For the process to move forward, Sancar said, it is very important that Ocalan himself coordinates the steps, describing this as a decisive factor.
On the obstacles to a resolution, Sancar said the process cannot proceed on the basis of one-sided demands and expectations alone, and that the government must also revisit its hardline positions.
He concluded that the step that unlocks the situation rests with Ocalan, which is why the government camp must also move away from a hard line. Ocalan’s entry into the new place, he said, requires the steps toward a solution to pick up speed.
A new phase of the peace process in Türkiye began in October 2024, after Devlet Bahçeli, chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), proposed that Ocalan come to the Turkish parliament and announce the dissolution of the PKK.
In 2025 and 2026, DEM Party delegations made several visits to Imrali island to hold talks with Ocalan. During this period, the PKK took several symbolic steps toward disarmament, including the burning of weapons by some of its guerrillas.
Ocalan’s transfer to a new location on Imrali is seen as part of preparations to give him a more active role in the resolution process.
This is especially so after the Turkish parliament passed the “framework law” in summer 2026, which regulates disarmament procedures and the advancement of dialogue.
The Imrali delegation had previously warned that halting visits to Ocalan weakens trust between the sides and puts the process at risk.
Sozdar Avesta, a member of the General Presidential Council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), said in an interview with Stêrk TV, reported Oct. 30, that the peace process has neither collapsed nor advanced.
She said Ocalan and the movement had met their responsibilities but that no corresponding changes had come from the Turkish government, and she warned that the movement would not wait indefinitely for political progress.