According to information provided by intelligence units, the disagreement among the PKK’s top leaders, which started with the government’s initiative, deepened following the closure of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) by the Constitutional Court in December of last year, when a controversy erupted over DTP deputies’ resignations. Deputies of the now-defunct DTP first announced that they would resign from Parliament in protest of the court’s ruling but they reconsidered their action and decided to continue to serve.
While Murat Karayılan, the chief operative of the PKK, and high-level PKK commander Cemil Bayık thought the resignations were not correct, other leaders including Duran Kalkan, Mustafa Karasu and Ali Haydar Kaytan supported the deputies’ resignations and planned to launch a movement which would include them. In the end, the jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, had the last word and the deputies established a group in Parliament after the independent İstanbul deputy Ufuk Uras joined 19 former DTP deputies. However, even if this decision was favored by Öcalan, some PKK leaders were disturbed by the deputies staying in Parliament.
Another development that led to a difference of opinion in the PKK administration was the recent series of operations against the Kurdish Communities Union, Turkey Council (KCK/TM), an organization that allegedly functions as the urban arm of the PKK and that is thought to have served the interests of Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist organization charged with plotting to overthrow the government. On Dec. 18, Öcalan complained via his lawyers about extensions of Ergenekon in the PKK. “I noticed the links of some within the organization [PKK] with Ergenekon,” Öcalan reportedly told his lawyers. On the other hand, another wing of the PKK’s administration, known as hawks, have slammed the operations and regard them as a trap by the AK Party for the PKK.
Kalkan, Karasu and Kaytan, who are among the hawks, believe that the government’s initiative is a plan to dissolve the PKK and they think Öcalan, who was expected to announce a roadmap in August for a solution to the Kurdish issue but did not, took this decision after discussing the issue with the government.
