site.btaTurkiye's Security Forces Break Up Kurdistan Workers' Party Procession on Abdullah Ocalan's Birthday

Security forces in Diyarbakir and Sanlıurfa (southeastern Turkiye), used force to disperse a procession of supporters of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. According to the Haberler news website, the marches were organized Friday to mark Ocalan's birthday, born on this day in 1949, and attracted many participants.

Some of the demonstrators set off from Diyarbakir towards Sanlıurfa, where they were to join other protesters for a large rally. The protesters carried slogans demanding Ocalan's release from the Imralı Island prison near Istanbul, where he is serving a life sentence.

However, the road between Diyarbakir and Sanlıurfa was blocked with barriers, preventing the group from proceeding. Clashes erupted as demonstrators threw stones at gendarmerie soldiers, who were also involved in dispersing the crowd.

There were injured during the violence, though the exact number remains unclear, Haberler reports.

In late February, Kurdish rebel leader called on the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization in Turkiye, the EU, and the US, to disband. This came after, in October 2024, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a key political ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, unexpectedly extended an olive branch to Ocalan, urging him to renounce terrorism and dissolve his organization in Parliament. On December 28, for the first time in nearly 10 years, a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party visited Ocalan in prison.

The PKK has been waging an armed struggle against the Turkish state since 1984 and is classified as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the EU, and the US.