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 Ocalan began talks with Ankara in 2012 to end a conflict which has
killed 40,000 people and stunted development in NATO-member Turkey's
mainly Kurdish southeast, and impatience is growing in a peace
process complicated by Kurds' involvement in fighting Islamic State
in Syria and Iraq.
President Tayyip Erdogan, his attention focused on a June general
election he hopes will pave the way for an executive presidency, is
exerting pressure on Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to
disarm, declaring there is no longer a 'Kurdish problem' thanks to
reforms under his rule.
For Kurds listening to Ocalan's message as they celebrated the
'Newroz' spring festival, dancing to Kurdish songs and calling for
his release, such talk from Erdogan is infuriating and shakes their
belief in a peace process they feel is yet to yield results.
"The people are losing patience and if nothing happens in a few
months, hope will be completely uprooted," said Habibe Altan, 59,
whose village was one of thousands destroyed during the conflict.
Her son later died fighting for the PKK.
"We are the ones who have been crushed. So many sacrificed their
lives. Such struggle must not go to waste," she said in the city of
Diyarbakir, where supporters of the pro-Kurdish HDP opposition
declare an utter lack of confidence in the president.
 Such sentiment is frustrating for Erdogan, who has invested huge
political capital in the process, pushing through cultural reforms
aimed at improving the lot of Turkey's long-suppressed Kurds,
roughly 20 percent of its 78 million population.
SYRIA CONFLICT BOOSTS PKK
The situation is complicated by division among Kurds themselves,
many of whom appreciate Erdogan's efforts in the face of fierce
nationalist opposition, supporting the ruling AK Party he founded
and distrusting the PKK.
"He has shown great courage in starting the process, putting his
body and soul into it," said doctor Sedat Ozkul, 44, hoping to be an
AKP candidate in the June election and suspicious of the PKK
commanders who live in the Qandil mountains of northern Iraq.
"The problem is the sincerity of Qandil and the HDP. The ball is in
their court. They must prove their sincerity."
On the surface talks appear to be advancing rapidly. Ocalan called
at the weekend for a PKK congress to end an insurgency which he
described as "unsustainable".
But the process' vulnerability was illustrated on Wednesday by a
clash between the military and the PKK near the Iraqi border, a rare
violation of a two-year ceasefire.
The process has been complicated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria,
where the PKK has carved out a role fighting Islamic State (IS)
militants, despite being considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the
United States and EU.
Kurds believe the Turkish state aided IS fighters besieging the
Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani last autumn, triggering unrest which
killed dozens of people in Turkey.
Against this backdrop, PKK commanders are in no hurry to put down
their weapons despite their declared allegiance to Ocalan, jailed on
the island of Imrali south of Istanbul since 1999.
Doubts about progress are heightened by the belief that Erdogan is
courting right-wing voters ahead of the election, putting his goal
of introducing a presidential system in the EU-candidate country
ahead of the peace process.
"He has become paradoxically its biggest obstacle. This is because
the needs of the peace process, greater democratization, conflict
with his own ambitions," said Henri Barkey, professor of
international relations at Lehigh University in the United States.
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The Kurdish demands include freedom for Ocalan, steps towards
political autonomy, full Kurdish language education and the overhaul
of security laws used to prosecute supporters of their movement.
HORRORS OF PAST
What unites Kurds of all political stripes is the desire to put an
end to the suffering which has crippled the southeast since around
the time of a 1980 military coup, when the roots of the PKK
insurgency were established.
In particular, Diyarbakir's military prison is viewed as a breeding
ground for the conflict, the scene of horrific torture where dozens
died and many more were scarred for life in a brutal crackdown on
political dissent.
"The seeds of the resistance were sown in that prison and spread
across Kurdistan," said Sukru Abay, 61, describing the physical
abuse which he suffered and recounting how fellow prisoners went on
to fight with the PKK.
"They changed the direction of the state and eventually it spoke of
a settlement, it had no choice. They realized it could not be solved
militarily," he said, photos of those who died in the jail filling
the walls of his office.
The suffering since that time is etched on the Kurdish collective
memory, driving the determination of officials in the region today
to cling on to what Diyarbakir Mayor Firat Anli says is the
"positive foundation" created by the peace process.
Anli, who was jailed along with thousands of other Kurds charged
with links to militants, warned the positive momentum could be
undermined unless proposed reforms become law.
"We are in a better place than in the past but there is no
guarantee. Laws have not changed ... We could all be detained, tried
and punished over this tomorrow," he said in his office.
Whether the HDP will exceed the 10 percent threshold of votes it
needs to enter parliament in June will be critical.
Opposition politicians suggest the HDP and the AK Party are plotting
a deal in which support for a presidential system would be rewarded
with pro-Kurdish reforms. It is a claim fiercely rejected by the
HDP.
"To do secret bargaining with someone there has to be trust. Even
Erdogan’s party doesn’t trust him," said Abdullah Demirbas, a former
Diyarbakir district mayor whose son is fighting with forces linked
to the PKK in Syria.
"What are we going to do? Sacrifice everything so that Erdogan can
be president. The people would kill us."
(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Anna
Willard)
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