Performing Peace, Reframing Power: Öcalan’s Ceasefire Call and the Post-Conflict Imaginary in Kurdish Politics, the End of PKK?
This paper analyzes Abdullah Öcalan’s 2025 ceasefire call within the evolving dynamics of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey. Far from representing a straightforward gesture toward peace, the call must be situated within a complex landscape of political repression, strategic recalibration, and contested leadership within the Kurdish movement. Drawing on insights from conflict transformation theory and the study of symbolic politics, this analysis argues that Öcalan’s message functions as both a tactical intervention and a performative act aimed at repositioning his authority, re-opening dialogue possibilities, and navigating heightened state repression against Kurdish political actors. The study situates the ceasefire call within broader regional developments, including Turkey’s intensified securitization of the Kurdish issue, intra-Kurdish fragmentation, and the increasing marginalization of democratic channels such as the Peoples’ Democratic Party (Halkların Demokratik Partisi, HDP). By examining official responses, political reception, and the broader strategic context, this paper contributes to an understanding of ceasefire declarations not merely as conflict-resolving tools but as instruments of symbolic contestation and political maneuvering. In doing so, it sheds light on the constraints and possibilities for political agency in authoritarian and post-conflict settings.
Gabriele Leone
Gabriele Leone is a researcher specializing in political philosophy and biopolitics, with a particular focus on Turkey’s treatment of its Kurdish minority. His Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Lapland critically examined power dynamics between the Turkish nation-state and the Kurdish population, analyzing biopolitical mechanisms with potential totalitarian implications for Turkish democracy. In 2023, he was a Junior Visiting Fellow within the “Dimensions of Europe” program in Graz, where he explored the intersections of biopolitics and national identity in Turkey. His research in that context focused on how biopolitical governance shapes narratives of national belonging and its implications for Turkey’s prospective rapprochement with the European Union on Kurdish issues. Gabriele Leone’s work contributes to broader scholarly debates on minority rights, state power, and democratic governance in Southeast Europe. For the academic year 2024-2025, he is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Southeast European Studies (CSEES). In parallel, he serves as a tutor for the course “International Cooperation, Sustainability, and Peace” at the University of Calabria (UNICAL), where he continues to engage with themes of cooperation, democracy, and conflict resolution in a transnational context.