NEWS CENTRE- Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's "Democratic Society Manifesto" had a great repercussion in the world press. 

 

Historical developments are taking place within the scope of the ‘Peace and Democratic Society Process’ initiated for the solution of the Kurdish question and democratisation. Following the 27 February call, Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan shared his second call with the public from İmralı Prison. Hamili Yıldırım, Ömer Hayri Konar, Veysi Aktaş, Ergin Atabey, Zeki Bayhan and Mahmut Yamalak took part in the call. 

 

Another historical threshold in the ongoing process for the solution of the Kurdish question started today with the second video call. In his video message, Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan announced the end of the PKK's armed struggle and called for a ‘democratic transition’ in Turkey. After 26 years of isolation, Abdullah Öcalan's first video message resonated not only in Turkey but also in the international community.

 

Reuters

 

Reuters News Agency drew attention to Abdullah Öcalan's suggestion to the Turkish Grand National Assembly to establish a commission to supervise the disarmament process. The report underlined Abdullah Öcalan's message of "full transition to democratic politics."

 

RFI

 

France's public broadcaster Radio France Internationale (RFI) announced the first video statement in 26 years with the headline "PKK leader announces rapid implementation of disarmament’. Abdullah Öcalan was quoted as saying: ‘This is a voluntary transition from the stage of armed conflict to the stage of democracy and law. (...) The procedures for disarmament will be defined and quickly put into practice."

 

BBC

 

BBC, on the other hand, served the news with the expressions "PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan made a video statement for the first time in 25 years." The news report underlined Abdullah Öcalan's emphasis on ‘the armed struggle is over", as well as ‘unarmed solution’ and ‘democratic transition’. The statement received support from senior PKK leaders and some positive comments from Europe, but no official response from Ankara yet.

 

Euronews

 

Euronews reported the statement as saying that the PKK movement had ended and that the disarmament process would begin as soon as possible:"The PKK movement and the strategy of national liberation war on which it is based have come to an end,’ Abdullah Öcalan said in his video message, adding that the period of armed conflict was over and that the aims of the organisation had now changed. Abdullah Öcalan said: "The PKK movement based on the denial of existence and aiming for a separate state has come to an end. Existence has been recognised and the main goal has been achieved."