Ocalan's statement was read by veteran politician Ahmet Türk in Kurdish language and by DEM Party lawmaker Pervin Buldan in Turkish language at Elit World Otel in Istanbul following the party’s third meeting with Ocalan.

In the statement, Ocalan called on the PKK to disarm and dissolve, arguing “There is no alternative to democracy in the pursuit and realization of a political system.”

He said the PKK was initially born due to “the outright denial of Kurdish reality, (and) restrictions on basic rights and freedoms.”

The PKK, designated a “terrorist” group by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984 with the initial aim of creating an independent Kurdish state. It subsequently moderated its goals to seek greater Kurdish rights and limited autonomy in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

“The need for a democratic society is inevitable. The PKK, the longest and most extensive insurgency and armed movement in the history of the Republic, found social base and support, and was primarily inspired by the fact that the channels of democratic politics were closed,” Ocalan said.

However, “a separate nation-state, federation, administrative autonomy, or culturalist solutions fails to answer the historical sociology of the society” currently, he said.

“Respect for identities, free self-expression, democratic self-organization of each segment of society based on their own socio-economic and political structures, are only possible through the existence of a democratic society and political space. The second century of the Republic can achieve and assure permanent and fraternal continuity only if it is crowned with democracy. There is no alternative to democracy in the pursuit and realization of a political system. Democratic consensus is the fundamental way,” he added.

“As in the case with any modern community and party whose existence has not been abolished by force, would voluntarily do, convene your congress and make a decision; all groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself. I convey my greetings to all those who believe in co-existence and who look forward to my call,” he concluded.

A DEM Party delegation visited Ocalan three times since December following a broader government initiative to have Ocalan call on the PKK separatist movement to disarm, potentially ending a four-decade-old insurgency against the Turkish state.

The last visit happened on Feb. 27 with seven Kurdish politicians on the prison island of İmrali, south of Istanbul. A photograph from this visit was publicly shared.

The government’s initiative followed the call of MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

Bahceli surprisingly proposed in October that Ocalan should announce an end to the insurgency at the Parliament in exchange for the possibility of his release from İmralı.

Ocalan was arrested in 1999 and is serving a life sentence on the island.

The first reaction from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came from the party’s deputy chair Efkan Ala.

“The essence of the call is to lay down arms and for the terrorist organization to dissolve itself. We’ll look at the outcome,” he said.