1993 Kurdistan Workers' Party ceasefire

The Kurdistan Workers Party ceasefire of 1993 was a short lived ceasefire declared by Abdullah Öcalan at a press conference he held together with Jamal Talabani ahead of Newroz on the 17 March 1993.[1]

Background

The Kurdistan Workers' Party waged a guerilla war against Turkey since 1984. Their demands initially included independence for a Kurdistan to be created out of the Kurdish areas in Turkey,[2] but later transformed into a demand for more political and cultural freedom. In 1991, the Government of Turgut Özal ended the denial of the Kurdish identity by the Turkish government, a policy majorly implemented by the Turkish government since its first constitution in 1924.[3] Following, Öcalan gave interviews to several newspapers based in Turkey and spoke of his willingness to reach a political solution in the conflict with Turkey.[4]

History

At the press conference on the 17 March with Jamal Talabani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, three aspects of the ceasefire where pointed out.

  • the ceasefire was of unconditional nature,
  • the PKK has no intention to separate from Turkey and
  • the conflict should be "resolved within nationally agreed borders"[1]

A second press conference took place on the 19 March, where Kemal Burkay, a Kurdish politician from Turkey, signed an agreement with Öcalan, mentioning their support for the peace initiative.[1] No positive response towards the ceasefire was recorded by the Government of Turkey. To the contrary, further attacks on the Kurdish rural population followed the ceasefire announcement and an oppression of the politicians of the Peoples Labor Party( HEP) intensified.[1] Süleyman Demirel, the prime minister of Turkey at the time, refused to negotiate with Turkey in a statement released on the 23 March 1993.[5]

A third press conference took place on the 16 April 1993 in Bar Elias, Lebanon, where the ceasefire was prolonged indefinitely. To this event, Jamal Talabani, Ahmet Türk from the HEP and again Kemal Burkay attended and also declared their support for the ceasefire.[1] A day later, on the 17 April 1993 the Turkish President Turgut Özal, died unexpectedly. Doğan Güreş and Tansu Çiller, the chief of staff of the military and the prime minister at the time, both released statements against peace with the PKK and the latter was reported to have supported a military solution to the conflict.[6] The ceasefire ended after Turkish troops launched an attack on the 19 May 1993, in which 13 members of the PKK were killed.[7]

On the 24 May 1993, a PKK operation targeted Turkish soldiers on leave and killed 34 unarmed soldiers on the highway from Elazığ to Bingöl. On the 8 June, Öcalan officially announced the end of the ceasefire.[6]

References
  1. Özcan, Ali Kemal (2006). Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan. Routledge. p. 205. ISBN 9780415366878.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. "Who are Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels?". BBC News. 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  3. Orhan, Mehmet (2015-10-16). Political Violence and Kurds in Turkey: Fragmentations, Mobilizations, Participations & Repertoires. Routledge. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-317-42044-6.
  4. Gunes, Cengiz (2013-01-11). The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-136-58798-6.
  5. Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Chronology for Kurds in Turkey". Refworld. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  6. Özcan, Ali Kemal (2006), p.206
  7. Gunes, Cengiz (2013), p.129
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