Turkey moves PKK leader Ocalan to new prison section, Kurdish official says

Turkey has moved Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to a newly built part of the island prison where he has been held since 1999, a senior Kurdish official said. Mithat Sancar, a lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, confirmed the relocation in an interview with Medya Haber TV on Saturday and gave no further details.

Ocalan has been imprisoned in a penitentiary on the island of Imrali in the Marmara Sea, which links the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, since he was captured in 1999. Improving his prison conditions has been a key Kurdish demand in the push to end the 42-year conflict between the PKK and Turkish authorities. Sancar did not confirm that the newly built section has better accommodations, though his remarks appeared to indicate that.

Sancar called for the peace process to be sped up and said it had been on a pause for the last two months. Ocalan's move to the new facility, he said, necessitates an acceleration of the process. Sancar is among a group of DEM Party politicians who have regularly visited Ocalan since the militant leader called on the PKK to disband and disarm in February 2025.

Three months later, the PKK announced it would lay down its arms and end hostilities. That prompted the Turkish parliament to approve legislation in August offering a conditional pardon to thousands of PKK fighters, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan subsequently signed into law. The conflict with the PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.

Sancar stressed that Ocalan, who co-founded the PKK in the 1970s, must coordinate peace negotiations. The process cannot proceed with unilateral expectations and demands, he said, referring to the Turkish government, which he said needs to move away from its insistent and rigid stance.