DEM lawmaker says Öcalan may receive broader visitor access under terror-free Türkiye plan

Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party lawmaker Pervin Buldan indicated that Abdullah Öcalan may be allowed to meet journalists and civil-society actors in addition to his next of kin, lawyers and DEM deputies. She suggested a concrete step could be taken in October, expanding visitor access to the high-security island prison where Öcalan has been held since his 1999 capture. The proposal forms part of the terror-free Türkiye programme introduced by Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli, which followed the PKK’s 2025 dissolution and a law granting sentence deferrals to non-violent members.

Bahçeli has also floated the idea of appointing Öcalan as a “coordinator” for the PKK’s disarmament and Turkey’s political-democratic rebuilding. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently praised the terror-free Türkiye law, urging parties to strengthen the homefront amid regional tensions. The broader visitor policy aims to give Öcalan freer communication conditions to fulfil his intermediary role.