News Center- The “Call for Peace and Democratic Society” by Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan on February 27, 2025 has been welcomed all around the world. The call is defined as “the call of the century” for a democratic resolution to the Kurdish question and permanent peace. Many women’s organizations, especially the Peace Mothers’ Initiative, have released statements, expressing their support to the call read by the Imrali Delegation from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) after its third meeting with Abdullah Öcalan in the prison island of Imrali.

 NuJINHA interviewed Rahila Gupta, a journalist and member of the Management Committee of Southall Black Sisters, about the call for peace by Abdullah Öcalan.

‘Abdullah Öcalan is an astute thinker’

At the beginning of her speech, Rahila Gupta said that she is a supporter of the Kurdish struggle for freedom. “Any call for peace and a democratic solution to the long running Kurdish struggle has to be welcomed. I speak as a supporter of the Kurdish struggle and the Kurdish people have paid with their blood in the search for freedom to assert their identity and to live free from oppression. Abdullah Öcalan is an astute thinker respected hugely by the Kurdish people and his analysis of world politics and the role of the Middle East has usually been spot on.”

‘The obvious question is why now’

Rahila Gupta described herself as an “outsider” of the recent developments in Türkiye because she does not actually know what agreements have been made in private, behind the scenes, and in the high level meetings that have taken place in the prison island of Imrali.

“I am full of doubt because I don't understand the agenda of all the main players in this situation. Erdoğan has not made any concessions publicly. Calls for peace and the laying down of arms by the PKK have happened before and have not succeeded, in fact sometimes have led to a spike in violence so the obvious question is why now. If there is a comparison to be made of the last times the Middle East was in crisis, which was during the Arab Spring in 2011 where it also coincided with the last attempt to a peace settlement. The situation is so different today because that was a moment of hope, that was a moment of possible people power overthrowing authoritarian dictatorships in the Middle East. But today, the Middle East is in turmoil again and the very significant changes are the fact that Israel's fight with Hamas and Hezbollah and the weakening of Iran, the fall of Assad, the rise of the Islamist Party in Syria. All of these developments have completely recalibrated the geopolitical picture in the area and the distribution of power. But it doesn't feel like a moment of hope, it feels like a moment where things are shifting towards the fascism of Israel, Islamism and HTS and, of course, the authoritarianism of Erdoğan.”

Rahila Gupta also stated that the recent changes in the region have strengthened Turkey's position. “There's a Turkish-backed government in power in Syria, so all the cards seem to be in Erdoğan’s hands. When Assad was in power, there was a bit of a standoff between Assad and Erdoğan. In that vacuum or in that standoff, Rojava existed, maybe unusually but it did exist. The other issue is the Iraqi Kurds. Erdoğan has always had good relationships with them and in fact those links have been strengthened which could possibly lead any way to the ousting of the PKK from the Kandil mountains. The other issue, of course, is that HTS is demanding that the SDF should be absorbed into the national Syrian Army. Now, Öcalan calls for democratization. Why would Erdoğan agree to those calls when he himself is looking to change the constitution in order for him to undermine democracy in order for him to remain longer in power?”

‘I'm also confused by why Devlet Bahçeli began this initiative’

Rahila Gupta also mentioned the Turkish government’s approach to the calls for ‘peace’, noting that factors such as the economic crisis and EU membership also forced the government, Erdoğan, to make peace. “I'm also confused by why Devlet Bahçeli, who is the leader of the ultra-nationalist party, began this initiative because again in the past the reason that was put forward by people like Erdoğan for the failure of the peace talks was that the nationalists stood in the way of peace with Kurds.

Rahila Gupta expressed her concerns about the recent developments as a woman inspired by the experiment in Rojava, the women’s revolution and the democratic confederalist experiment, warning against policies that aim to end the revolution and its gains. Rahila Gupta concluded her speech, saying:

“As an outsider without knowledge of the full facts, I know that the Kurdish people and Kurdish leadership have been very astute. They have survived all these years in the most difficult of political circumstances and I would say not only survived but thrived so I'm sure they will be monitoring the situation carefully and some of the facts that I have mentioned or some of the doubts that I have mentioned then also be taken into account by them.

“Obviously my call to the Turkish government is to pay attention to the PKK’s call. It is a rational call, it is important for both the Turkish and Kurdish communities to live in coexistence, peacefully, to be given their rights, to be able to assert their identity and their culture and so on. What I've outlined is my fear and my doubts that Turkey will not heed this call. But we'll see it as an opportunity to bring an end to the resistance by the PKK without actually giving anything in return. Those are my anxieties.”