What does Öcalan think about the presidential election?

Regarding the course of the Kurdish issue, there is a truly perplexing situation. We are seeing two separate perspectives, which are exactly the opposite of each other.

For example, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent discourse is reviewed, we see that he has started using extremely tough language against the Kurdish political movement. Erdoğan has prioritized the issue of children joining or being kidnapped by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and he is using insulting words against figures from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) such as calling the party’s co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş a “liar.”

On the other hand, tension in the southeast is rising step by step. Upon the closing of the Diyarbakır-Bingöl highway by groups supporting the PKK, the organizing of an operation of military units may have caused the eruption of an environment of clashes.

When you regard all these developments as a whole, you may rule that the peace process has come to a stop and that the old days are back in the southeast. Actually, it’s not quite so…

It’s not so, because there are strong signs that the peace process is gaining a new momentum. For example, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay said in a TV interview on Kanal 7 last Sunday, “New decisions have been taken to get new momentum. It was decided that a new, more concrete road map should be drawn up with rapid steps that lead to a result.” There is also the holding of a workshop held Friday in Diyarbakır with top ministers of the Cabinet and opinion leaders from the Kurdish population.

The BDP delegation that visited İmralı last Sunday also indicated that Abdullah Öcalan was “hopeful”...