Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan received his first prison visit in 43 months on Wednesday, the same day a deadly blast rocked Ankara, likely carried out by Ocalan’s Kurdish organization. Ocalan, the PKK leader, has been in solitary confinement on a prison island since 1999.
According to his nephew Omer Ocalan, the last face-to-face meeting with Abdullah Ocalan was in March 2020, with another meeting occurring years later in October 2024. The attack on a Turkish defence firm near Ankara resulted in five deaths and 22 injuries, leading to Turkish strikes on Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria.
This incident came as Turkey was considering a political, negotiated solution to the conflict with Kurdish militants, with the PKK insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 claiming many lives. The ongoing tensions highlight the complex political landscape of the region and the need for peaceful resolutions.