The proposal by Devlet Bahceli, who heads the Turkish ultra-nationalist party the MHP, has triggered speculation that Erdogan’s government may revive talks to end a conflict that’s gone on for four decades and claimed more than 40,000 lives. 
Bahceli said the 76-year-old Ocalan should be freed on the condition that he call on his fellow PKK leaders to disarm and engage in a political resolution to the conflict. 
Although Ocalan no longer directs the PKK’s day-to-day operations, he is still revered by the movement’s commanders on the ground. That said, any peace deal he negotiated would mean little if they refused to sign up to it. 

Who is Abdullah Ocalan?  
Ocalan founded the PKK in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast in 1978, with a manifesto that combined socialist economic principles with demands for Kurdish autonomy. The group took up arms in 1984 and, by the 1990s, had evolved into a guerrilla force of more than 10,000 fighters. Ocalan maintained tight control over the PKK until his capture in 1999, after which he was imprisoned on an island in the Sea of Marmara southwest of Istanbul. Initially condemned to death for treason, his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. 
Ocalan was held in solitary confinement for about a decade until 2009, and was barred for years from seeing his relatives or his lawyers. 

Who are the Kurds? 
The Kurds are an Indo-European people, nomadic until more recent years, with a population of about 30 million worldwide, most of whom are Sunni Muslims. They are considered to be one of the world’s largest ethnic groups without a state of their own. One of the final treaties concluding World War I divided Kurdish-populated areas among Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
In Iraq, the Kurds successfully established a semi-autonomous region following the 2003 US-led invasion.
In Syria, a militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, was formed as an offshoot of the PKK to fight for Syrian Kurdish autonomy. When Syria descended into civil war, the YPG joined a US-led effort to eradicate the Islamic State movement and ended up controlling about a third of the country. Turkey views the YPG as a security threat due to its ties to the PKK. 

How big a deal would it be if Ocalan were released? 
Bahceli said the time has come to resolve the conflict as a way to build unity at home given the chaos in the wider Middle East. 
“You all see that our surroundings have become a fire scene,” he said. 
Ocalan is viewed by many Turks as the country’s top public enemy, with a reputation similar to that of Osama bin Laden among Americans. So the idea of letting him walk free was long seen as unthinkable. For the PKK, releasing him is a condition for any serious reconciliation talks to begin. 
President Erdogan didn’t respond directly to Bahceli’s suggestion, saying only: “We want to build a Turkey all together where there’s no terrorism.” 
Following Bahceli’s comments, Ocalan was allowed to meet with his nephew, lawmaker Omer Ocalan, and said he had the “theoretical and practical power to bring this process from conflict and violence into the political realm,” according to a post by Omer Ocalan on X. 

What does the PKK want?
The PKK wants the Turkish government to recognize Kurdish identity and culture in the country’s constitution, to grant the Kurdish population freedom of thought and assembly, and allow for Kurdish-language teaching in schools. 
It also calls for the government to recognize the Kurdish right to self-determination, or what it calls “democratic autonomy” — a status that would devolve more powers from the government in Ankara to local authorities in Turkey’s southeast.
The government has not acquiesced to any of these demands. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by both the US and the European Union.

So what are the chances for an end to the conflict?
Decades of deep mutual hostility represent a major barrier to a reconciliation, and the situation remains tense. The day after Bahceli made his comments, a gun attack in the Turkish capital killed five people and wounded 22 others. The PKK later claimed responsibility. It said the attack was planned “a long time ago” and wasn’t connected to the recent “political agenda” in Turkey. 
Selahattin Demirtas, one of Turkey’s most prominent Kurdish politicians currently in prison, has pledged to support Ocalan if he agrees to take part in a peace initiative. 
Cemil Bayik, a senior PKK figure who is in hiding in northern Iraq, said in an undated video circulated by Turkish media on Oct. 23 that PKK leaders in the field shared Ocalan’s goal of securing more cultural and legal rights for the Kurds, but that they must also be included in any reconciliation talks. 

What’s the state of the conflict?
The four decades of fighting have left tens of thousands of people dead and contributed to the economic marginalization of Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast.