Thousands demand Ocalan's freedom

Several thousand people gathered Sunday in Diyarbakir, Turkey's largest Kurdish-majority city, to demand the release of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been held in solitary confinement on the prison island of Imrali since 1999.

Protesters filled a central square chanting "Serok Apo" - "Chief Apo" - in support of the 76-year-old guerrilla leader, whose continued detention they say undermines the peace process he himself helped initiate.

The demonstration comes after a landmark year for Kurdish-Turkish relations. In 2025, at Ocalan's call, the PKK announced it was renouncing armed struggle, dissolved itself and began laying down weapons in a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq, where most of its fighters were based. It was the end of a four-decade conflict that claimed at least 50,000 lives.

Yet despite these historic steps, Ocalan's conditions remain largely unchanged. "There cannot be peace through isolation," declared Veysi Aktas, a former fellow detainee of Ocalan on Imrali, addressing the crowd. "Peace means recognition of the people, respect for identity and respect for the will of the people."

Ocalan has recently gained limited access to family members, lawyers and deputies from the pro-Kurdish DEM party, a modest improvement, but far short of what his supporters are demanding.