Ocalan's capture in exile on February 15, 1999, shocked his supporters.

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), is an icon to many Kurds, but a "terrorist" to many within wider Turkish society.

In a historic call on Thursday, Ocalan called for his PKK to be dissolved and its fighters to lay down their arms in a major step towards ending the decades-long conflict with the Turkish state.

Now 75, Ocalan has been held in solitary confinement since 1999 on Imrali prison island near Istanbul.

But since October, when Turkey tentatively moved to reset ties with the PKK, Ocalan has been visited three times by lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish opposition DEM party.

For most Turks, Ocalan is public enemy number one for his role in leading the PKK.

In 1978, he founded the group which six years later began an insurgency demanding independence and, more recently, broader autonomy in Turkey's mostly Kurdish southeast. Tens of thousands of people have died.

A Marxist-inspired group, it is blacklisted as a "terrorist" organisation by Turkey, the United States, the European Union and many other Western countries.

- An olive branch -

Attitudes began shifting in October when MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, offered Ocalan an olive branch if he would publicly renounce terror.

The next day, the former guerrilla who embodies the decades-long Kurdish rebellion, received his first family visit in four years.

He sent back a message saying he alone could shift the Kurdish question "from an arena of conflict and violence to one of law and politics" later offering assurances he was "ready to take the necessary steps and make the call".

Ankara's bid to reopen dialogue came just weeks before Syrian rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad, upending the regional balance of power and once again thrusting Turkey's complex relationship with the Kurds into the spotlight.

- From village life to militancy -

Ocalan was born on April 4, 1949, one of six siblings in a mixed Turkish-Kurdish peasant family in Omerli, a village in Turkey's southeast.

His mother tongue is Turkish.

He became a left-wing activist while studying politics at university in Ankara, and was first jailed in 1972.

He set up the PKK six years later, then spent years on the run, launching the movement's armed struggle in 1984.

Taking refuge in Syria, he led the fight from there, causing friction between Damascus and Ankara.

Forced out in 1998, he moved from Russia to Italy to Greece in search of a haven, ending up at the Greek consulate in Kenya, where US agents got wind of his presence and tipped off Turkey.

He was arrested on February 15, 1999 after being lured into a vehicle in a Hollywood-style operation by Turkish security forces.

Sentenced to death, he escaped the gallows when Turkey started abolishing capital punishment in 2002, living out the rest of his days in isolation on Imrali prison island in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul.

For many Kurds, he is a hero whom they refer to as "Apo" (uncle). But Turks often call him "bebek katili" (baby killer) for his ruthless tactics, including the bombing of civilian targets.

- Jailed but still leading -

With Ocalan's arrest, Ankara thought it had decapitated the PKK. But even from his cell he continued to lead, ordering a ceasefire that lasted from 1999 until 2004.

In 2005, he ordered followers to renounce the idea of an independent Kurdish state and campaign for autonomy in their respective countries.

Tentative moves to resolve Turkey's "Kurdish problem" began in 2008, and several years later, Ocalan became involved in the first unofficial peace talks when Erdogan was prime minister.

Led by then spy chief Hakan Fidan -- who is now foreign minister -- the talks raised Kurdish hopes for a solution with their future within Turkey's borders.

But the effort collapsed in July 2015, sparking one of the deadliest chapters in the conflict.

The government has defended its de facto silencing of Ocalan, saying he failed to convince the PKK of the need for peace.

Seen as the world's largest stateless people, Kurds were left without a country when the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I.

Although most live in Turkey, where they make up around a fifth of the population, the Kurds are also spread across Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Turkey's wide-scale use of combat drones has pushed most Kurdish fighters into northern Syria and Iraq, where Ankara has continued its raids.

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

SDF chief says PKK disarmament call 'not related to us in Syria'

Commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces Mazloum Abdi.

The commander of the Kurdish-led forces that control northeastern Syria said that a call by the leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey for the PKK to dissolve did not apply to the group he leads.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi said he welcomed the historic call by Abdullah Ocalan for the PKK to drop its decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state, which he said would have positive consequences in the region.

But Abdi said the long-imprisoned Ocalan's announcement on Thursday applied only to the PKK and was "not related to us in Syria".

Abdi's comment signalled Ocalan's announcement would have no immediate impact on the SDF despite the affiliation of Syria’s main Kurdish groups at the core of the SDF - the People's Protection Units (YPG) - to the PKK.

Turkey says the YPG is indistinguishable from the PKK and has along with Turkish-aligned Syrian armed factions battled the group.

"If there is peace in Turkey, that means there is no excuse to keep attacking us here in Syria," Abdi said.

Abdi's group established control over Kurdish areas of northern Syria after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and later became a major U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State, further expanding the area under its control.

The SDF had little conflict with the Syrian army under then- President Bashar al-Assad. Now, the SDF faces calls by the new Damascus administration that ousted Assad in December to merge into newly-minted state security forces.

Turkey is one of the new Syrian administration's main supporters.

Abdi has expressed a willingness for his forces to be part of the new defence ministry, but said they should join as a bloc rather than individuals, an idea rejected by the new government.

Neither the SDF nor the Kurdish-led administration was invited to a national dialogue conference convened in Damascus on Feb. 25. The Kurdish-led administration said the conference did not represent Syrians.

Abdi said Syrian Kurdish authorities would be organising their own local dialogue on the future of the northeastern region.

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT

Kurdish militant chief's peace call prompts hope, scepticism in Turkey

 Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan's call from prison for his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down arms sparked both hope and scepticism in Turkey on Thursday, while analysts linked it to a possible bid to overcome presidential term limits.

Thousands gathered in the central, predominantly Kurdish province, of Diyarbakir on Thursday, waving red, yellow, and green Kurdish flags and chanting slogans as they watched Ocalan's letter being read out on big screens by members of the delegation that visited him.

Reactions were divided, with some welcoming the call as a step toward peace while others dismissed it as a mistake.

"It is good. It is valuable," said Mehmet Kaya, a 54-year-old shopkeeper from Batman province. "We hope the rest of it comes with it, peace comes. We want peace and calm."

Pensioner Sadullah Bozyigit, 58, viewed the call as a broader signal for the region. "This message is not only for Kurds and Turks. It is for all the peoples of the Middle East," he said.

Others rejected the call outright.

"This is not the right step," said Mustafa Ogut, a resident of the central Turkish province of Nevsehir. "In previous years, they wanted to lay down their weapons. They did, and they got stronger again. This is a wrong step."

Insurer Tekin Erturk, 61, speaking in Istanbul's Kadikoy district, expressed cautious optimism. "God willing, we wish for peace, tranquillity, unity, and brotherhood. Let there be no more terrorism problems in this country," he said.

Political analysts remained sceptical about the Turkish government's intentions.

"Ocalan has made a historic peace call, but it is unclear whether Ankara is genuinely seeking a deal or executing a self-serving political manoeuvre," said Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of political risk consultancy Teneo.

"Even in the most optimistic scenario, resolving this multi-front conflict may take years."

He added that President Tayyip Erdogan faces high stakes, as he may need support from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party to secure the votes required to amend the constitution and run for re-election in the future.

Erdogan will likely tap Ocalan's call to engage Kurds on a constitutional overhaul, which would enable him to overcome term limits and seek re-election in May 2028 while also safeguarding Kurdish cultural and language rights, Emre Peker, a director at Eurasia Group covering Turkey, said in a note.

"If talks with the Kurds get stuck, as they did during 2012-15, Erdogan would probably escalate a political crackdown against (pro-Kurdish party) DEM and launch military offensives against the PKK to bolster his nationalist credentials," Peker said.

https://www.amazon.com/Africircle-AfriPrime/dp/B0D2M3F2JT